A Swiss court on Friday convicted members of Britain's richest family of exploiting domestic workers at their luxury Geneva villa but acquitted them of more serious human trafficking charges.
Prosecutors have charged four family members — Prakash Hinduja, his wife Kamal Hinduja, their son Ajay Hinduja and daughter-in-law Namrata Hinduja — with trafficking and exploiting several Indian workers.
They are accused of confiscating employees' passports and forcing them to work more than 16 hours a day without overtime pay at the villa, charges that lawyers representing the Hindujas deny.
The court on Friday sentenced Prakash Hinduja and Kamal Hinduja to four years and six months in prison, and Ajay Hinduja and Namrata Hinduja to four years in prison, according to media reports. It also ordered them to pay about $950,000 in damages and about $300,000 in legal costs. Najib Ziaji, a business adviser to the family who was also indicted, was found complicit in the exploitation.
Roman Jordan, a lawyer representing the Hinduja family, said in an emailed statement that the family was “disappointed” with the verdict and had appealed to a higher court. “The family has full confidence in the judicial process and remains committed to defending itself,” the statement added.
The Hindujas head a multinational conglomerate with vast assets in many sectors, including car 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 ($47 billion), describing them as Britain's richest family.
Arguments in the highly-anticipated trial began on June 10, with lead prosecutor Yves Bertossa arguing that the family's budget for pets was more than the salary of a housekeeper, Swiss media reported.
Some domestic workers, who provided child care and household services, were paid as little as 10,000 rupees a month (about $120 at current rates), according to the indictment. Many of them came from poor families in India and were made to work “from dawn until late into the night” without overtime pay. Their wages, well below the minimum wage for domestic workers in Geneva, were deposited in Indian bank accounts that were not easily accessible, the indictment said.
Prosecutors had alleged that the Hindujas confiscated the maids' passports and ordered them not to leave the villa, where they slept in bunk beds in a windowless basement. The indictment said the maids were expected to be available at all times, including during trips to France and Monaco, where they worked under similar conditions.
Jordan, the Hinduja family's lawyer, denied the allegations, calling them “exaggerated and biased”.
“The Hinduja family strongly denies these charges,” he said in a pre-sentence statement.
A civil lawsuit involving lead plaintiffs who worked for the family was settled last week, according to Swiss media reports. Jordan declined to discuss terms but said the agreement was “confidential” and that the plaintiffs had dropped their cases.
According to Swiss media, prosecutors in the criminal case were seeking prison sentences of up to five and a half years and millions of francs in fines and damages.
Three Hinduja brothers head the family conglomerate, two of whom are based in the UK and across Europe. The family owns extensive real estate in London, including a 25-room mansion and the five-star Raffles Hotel in the historic former government building of the Old War Office.
The eldest of the brothers, Shrichand P. Hinduja, co-chairman of the Hinduja Group, died last May at age 87. His death came after a long-running battle between factions of the family for control of the family assets.
