A Swiss court is expected to rule on Friday on whether members of Britain’s richest family are guilty of human trafficking after being accused of exploiting domestic workers at a luxury villa in Geneva.
Prosecutors filed charges against four members of the Hinduja family: Prakash Hinduja, Kamal Hinduja, Ajay Hinduja and Namrata Hinduja, accusing them of trafficking several workers from India, confiscating their passports and forcing them to work 16 hours a day in the villa , and there is no overtime pay. Lawyers representing the Hindus deny the allegations.
The Hinduja family runs multinational conglomerates with large stakes in automobile manufacturing, banking, oil and gas, real estate and healthcare. The Sunday Times of London recently estimated the family’s net worth at 37 billion pounds (about $47 billion) and ranked it as Britain’s richest family.
Arguments in the closely watched trial began on June 10, with chief prosecutor Yves Bertossa claiming the family spent more of their budget on the pets than a domestic worker’s salary, according to Swiss media. many.
According to the original indictment, some domestic workers were paid as little as 10,000 rupees a month (equivalent to $120 today). It is said that many of the workers come from poor families in India and work “from dawn to late at night” without overtime pay. They were paid well below the minimum wage for domestic workers in Geneva and deposited into Indian bank accounts that they could not easily access, the indictment said.
Prosecutors said the Sinduja family confiscated the passports of domestic workers and told them not to leave the villa, where they slept in bunk beds in a windowless basement. The workers were expected to be on call at all times, including when traveling to France and Monaco, where they worked under the same conditions, the indictment said.
Romain Jordan, a lawyer representing the Hinduja family, denied what he called “exaggerated and biased accusations.”
“Members of the Hinduja family strenuously deny these accusations and remain determined to defend themselves,” he said in a statement on Wednesday.
The civil case involving the lead plaintiff who worked for the family was settled last week, according to Swiss media reports. Jordan declined to discuss the terms but said the agreement was “confidential” and that the plaintiffs had withdrawn their complaints.
A judge is expected to rule on the criminal case on Friday, with prosecutors seeking up to five and a half years in prison, as well as millions of Swiss francs in fines and compensation, according to Swiss media reports.
Three Hinduja brothers lead the family business group, two of whom are based in the UK and across Europe. The family owns a number of properties in London, including a 25-bedroom home and the five-star Raffles Hotel in the Old War Offices, a historic former government building.
The most senior of the brothers, Srichand P. Hinduja, who was also co-chairman of the Hinduja Group, died in May last year at the age of 87.
