Exclusive: Controversial asylum seeker hotel in Milton Keynes suddenly closed down

A controversial Newport Pagnell hotel earmarked for 200 asylum seekers has suddenly closed and the asylum guests have been moved out, the Citizen can exclusively reveal.

It is understood the Home Office has ended the multi-million pound contract, although they cannot officially confirm or deny this.

Harben House Hotel hit the headlines two weeks ago when the Citizen discovered a Home Office contract had been issued for it to take the asylum seekers, rumoured to be single males.

The decision was made without consulting Milton Keynes City Council and came at a time when the government is otherwise trying to deter migrants from arriving in Britain to stay in hotels.

The same building had been successfully used by the Home Office to house refugees from Afghanistan and those families were welcomed with open arms by the town. But the prospect of asylum seekers filled many people about safety and security.

The Citizen tracked down the hotel owner Siddharth Mahajan, whose company Tulip Hotels and Real Estate Ltd had bought the place just two weeks ago before the Home Office contract began.

In an exclusive interview, he said the asylum seekers would be families and not single males and the hotel would be expertly run by specialist management company Countrywide Hotels.

But what he did not want to talk about was his previous convictions and prison sentence for offences under the Proceeds of Crime Act, which included perverting the course of justice and forging documents.

MK City Council discovered this and council leader Pete Marland issued a statement calling for the government contract to be terminated immediately.

He wrote to the Minister for Immigration, stating that the Home Office, responsible for law and order, should “not be giving taxpayers money to a convicted criminal”.

Meanwhile, the first small group of asylum seekers moved into the hotel on Friday August 11, and the Citizen arranged to meet them at the hotel on the Monday morning, with Mr Mahajan.

But the meeting was cancelled by him – and on the Monday afternoon members of the public spotted the asylum seekers being moved out.

"As fast as they were moved in, they were moved out. We couldn’t understand what was happening.”

Since then the hotel has remained unoccupied but staff remain on reception.

When the Citizen called today (Thursday) a staff member confirmed: “The contract has ended”.

Mr Mahajan and Countrywide were unavailable for comment.

We contacted the Home Office and a spokesman said he could not confirm or deny the termination of the contract as it was policy not to discuss asylum seeker hotels.

Now council leader Cllr Marland has demanded that the Conservative government set up an inquiry to find out why the contract was awarded.

He told the Citizen: “The right thing has been done in the end, but it has taken too long and the whole thing has been a total shambles.

"The asylum system is broken. The government is spending millions of pounds a day housing asylum seeker in inappropriate accommodation.

"I’m sure this won’t be the last time we see ill-suited property in Mk being brought or used to house people – because it’s so lucrative.”