A HOTEL owned by a Labour councillor has been banned from selling alcohol after it was found to have been trading without a liquor licence for more than a year.
Police Scotland officers entered the Artto Hotel in Glasgow, instructed management it was breaking the law by selling alcohol and ordered it to stop.
The hotel belongs to Sohan Singh, who was elected as a Labour councillor last May, and is fraternised by politicians from across the spectrum.
Mr Singh is listed as the proprietor of the Hope Street hotel on his official register of interests, but insists he has no role in its management.
The previous liquor licence expired last June when the company that ran the hotel, Karneski, was liquidated.
Although the manager was kept on, under law an application for a new licence was needed. No such application was made.
Mr Singh said he only became aware of the issue following the police visit.
It was also the latest brush with the authorities for Mr Singh, who has been criticised for operating illegally as a landlord and also warned about liquor law breaches at his city Kelvin Lorne Hotel.
Although he delegated the Kelvin Lorne hotel to be run by someone else, Mr Singh was issued with a written warning by his own council after a licensing hearing late last year.
It is understood the situation with the Artto came to light during a check by officials, who are legally obliged to inform police if they suspect a licensing offence has been committed.
It is also understood police received a complaint on Thursday, prompting yesterday's action.
A Police Scotland spokeswoman said: "Police attended the Artto Hotel on Hope Street today and told the management they were no longer allowed to sell alcohol. It can remain open as a hotel but not sell alcohol."
Mr Singh said: "I am the owner of the hotel. Nothing more. I don't run it. But this seems to be little more than a bureaucratic oversight. The manager was licensed and the firm which took over last June believed this was all that was required.
"They were unaware that the liquidation of the previous company meant the licence no longer had effect.
"In all the years this hotel has been running, we've never had issues with the police. This is an issue of paperwork, which lawyers are now dealing with."
However, leader of the city council's opposition SNP group Graeme Hendry said a pattern had clearly emerged with Mr Singh's businesses.
He added: "Yet again this so-called Labour A-list councillor has shown he has little or no regard for operating within the rules administered by his own council.
"Unfortunately, this lax approach to the rules seems to reflect the whole Glasgow Labour approach to governing. Labour's definition of an A-list candidate would be Z-list anywhere else."
But one friend of Mr Singh said: "If Sohan wasn't a councillor, nobody would bat an eyelid at this. Which businessman has every 'i' dotted and 't' crossed? The police have acted on a complaint and you've got to ask by whom."
A spokesman for the licensing board said: "Any allegations of a premises selling alcohol without a licence are matters for the police. We have received no complaints on this matter. Any complaints will be dealt with in the appropriate manner."
Last year, Mr Singh was suspended by the council's ruling Labour group for several weeks after parking in a disabled bay. He was also criticised by a senior Scottish Government minister for the condition of a hotel he owned in Crieff, which led to the closure of an adjoining bank.
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