A Swiss court on Friday sentenced four members of Britain’s richest family to jail for exploiting Indian workers at their Geneva residence.
The Hindujas – who were not present in court – were acquitted of human trafficking but convicted of the other charges, a shock verdict for a family whose wealth is estimated at 37 billion pounds ($47 billion).
The presiding judge in Geneva ruled that Prakash Hinduja and his wife Kamal Hinduja were sentenced to four years and six months each, while his son Ajay and his wife Namrata were given four years’ imprisonment each.
The cases arise from the family’s practice of bringing in servants from their native India, and include allegations of their passports being confiscated upon arrival in Switzerland.
Prosecutors argued that the Hindujas paid their employees very low salaries and gave them little freedom to leave the house.
The family denied the charges, claiming that the prosecutors wanted to “take control of the Hinduja family”.
The Hinduja brothers reached a confidential out-of-court settlement with three employees who had made allegations against them.
Despite this, the prosecution decided to pursue the case considering the seriousness of the allegations.
Geneva prosecutor Yves Bertossa had requested a custodial sentence of five-and-a-half years against Prakash and Kamal Hinduja.
The two were 78 and 75 years old respectively and had been absent since the start of the trial due to health reasons.
In his closing address the prosecutor accused the family of abusing an “asymmetrical situation” between a powerful employer and a vulnerable employee to save money.
Domestic workers were paid 220 to 400 francs ($250-450) per month, far less than they could have expected to earn in Switzerland.
“They are profiting from the world’s misery,” Bertosa told the court.
‘Slaves were not mistreated’
But defence lawyers for the Hinduja family argued that the three plaintiffs received adequate benefits, were not isolated and were free to leave the villa.
“We are not hearing the case of abused slaves,” Nicolas Jeandin told the court.
Indeed, his fellow lawyer Robert Assael argued that the employees were “grateful to the Hinduja brothers for providing them with a better life”.
Representing Ajay Hinduja, lawyer Yael Hayat had criticised the prosecution as “excessive” and argued that the trial “should be a question of justice, not social justice.”
Namrata Hinduja’s lawyer, Romain Jordan, also sought her acquittal and claimed prosecutors were attempting to make an example of the family.
He argued that the prosecution had failed to mention the payments made to the employees over and above their cash salaries.
“No employee was cheated out of his or her salary,” Asael said.
Some employees also demanded a salary hike, which they got.
With its presence in oil & gas, banking and healthcare sectors, the Hinduja Group is present in 38 countries and employs around 200,000 people.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
