 "Four Hinduja family members have landed in legal trouble in Switzerland. AFP File Photo")
The Hindujas, Britain’s richest family, is in legal trouble. Four family members have been accused of human trafficking and mistreatment of domestic staff in Switzerland.
The billionaires are on trial in a Swiss court where a prosecutor has alleged the family spent more on caring for their pet dog than their servants.
Who are the Hindujas? What are the shocking charges against them? Let’s understand.
Meet the Hinduja family
The Hinduja family, which runs the multinational conglomerate the Hinduja group, has a net worth of $20 billion (Rs 1.7 lakh crore), according to a Forbes estimate last November.
Founded by Parmanand Deepchand (PD) Hinduja in undivided India, the group has a wide range of businesses – from trucks and shipping to media.
PD Hinduja, who was born in the Sindh district in then undivided India, opened the first international office of the Hinduja group in Iran in 1919. The group’s headquarters remained in Iran before shifting to Europe, according to the conglomerate’s website.
Gopichand Hinduja , a second-generation businessman, is currently the chairman, a role he took over after his older brother Srichand Hinduja’s death last May.
While he is settled in London, his younger brother Prakash lives in Monaco and the youngest Ashok resides in Mumbai, as per Forbes.
The Hindujas own several prime properties in London, including the Raffles London hotel.
Some of the group’s companies include Hinduja Healthcare Limited, Hinduja Bank (Switzerland) Ltd, IndusInd Bank and Ashok Leyland among others.
Charges against Hinduja family
The Hindujas are battling allegations of exploitation of their Indian staff at their Lake Geneva villa.
Impact Shorts
More ShortsSwiss prosecutor Yves Bertossa on Monday (17 June) told a criminal court that the Hindujas “spent more for one dog than one of their servants,” according to Bloomberg.
He alleged that one of the female servants was paid as little as 7 Swiss francs (Rs 660) for 18-hour workdays, seven days a week. On the other hand, the billionaire family spent 8,584 Swiss francs (about Rs 8 lakh) in a year on their pet dog.
The Hindujas, who own a villa in Geneva’s wealthy neighbourhood of Cologny, have come under scrutiny for bringing staff from India to take care of their children and household.
According to BBC, Prakash and Kamal Hinduja, along with their son Ajay and his wife Namrata, have been accused of seizing staff passports and restricting their freedom to leave the house.
There are also charges that the staff was paid for their work in India, meaning they had no Swiss money and thus little freedom in the European country.
Bertossa alleged that the staff contract did not set down fixed working hours or week offs but that they have to be available as per the employers’ needs, reported Bloomberg.
Trafficking is a serious criminal offence in Switzerland.
The Swiss prosecutor has called for five and half years of prison term for the elderly couple and demanded sentences of four and a half years for Ajay and Namrata.
He also asked the court to direct the family to pay one million Swiss francs in legal costs and 3.5 million francs in compensation funds for the staff.
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What have the Hindujas argued?
Although the Hindujas lawyers have not rubbished claims of low wages, they have denied mistreating the staff.
They also pointed out that the domestic workers received accommodation and food. The lawyers also cited servants’ testimony that they were treated with respect and dignity.
“The salary can’t simply be reduced to what they were paid in cash” as food and lodging were covered, Yael Hayat, a lawyer for Ajay Hinduja, said, as per Independent.
She also called 18-hour working days an exaggeration.
“When they sit down to watch a movie with the kids, can that be considered work? I think not,” Hayat said.
According to Bloomberg, Ajay Hinduja claimed during the trial that he did not have a detailed knowledge of the staff’s working conditions, adding that their recruitment was managed by the Hinduja Group in India.
The criminal trial continues even after three domestic workers settled a civil case against the Hindujas over alleged exploitation last week.
With inputs from agencies