Four members of the wealthiest family in Britain were given prison sentences by a Swiss court on Friday for taking advantage of Indian workers at their Geneva estate. The Hinduja family, whose wealth is reported to be over 37 billion pounds ($47 billion), was dealt a stunning blow when they were found not guilty of human trafficking but guilty on other crimes.
Prakash Hinduja and his wife Kamal Hinduja were condemned to four years and six months in jail each by the presiding court in Geneva, while their son Ajay and his wife Namrata were given four-year terms. The cases, which have their roots in the family’s habit of importing domestic help from their home country of India, involve claims that when the workers were transported to Switzerland, their passports were seized.
Prosecutors argued the Hindujas paid their staff a pittance and gave them little freedom to leave the house.
Rejecting the accusations, the family stated that the prosecution sought to “do in the Hindujas.” The Hindujas and the three employees who leveled the claims against them came to a private, out-of-court settlement. Despite this, the seriousness of the charges led the prosecution to decide to press the case. Yves Bertossa, the prosecutor from Geneva, had asked for a five-and-a-half-year prison sentence for Prakash and Kamal Hinduja. Both, who were 75 and 78 years old, had missed all of the trial’s sessions due to illness.
The prosecutor charged in his closing remarks that the family was misusing the “asymmetrical relationship” between a strong employer and a weak employee in order to save money. The monthly compensation of household employees ranged from 220 to 400 francs ($250–450), which was significantly less than what they could anticipate making in Switzerland. The three plaintiffs, according to the defense attorneys for the Hinduja family, were not kept in isolation and were able to leave the property after receiving sufficient rewards.
“We are not dealing with mistreated slaves,” Nicolas Jeandin told the court.
Indeed, the employees “were grateful to the Hindujas for offering them a better life”, his fellow lawyer Robert Assael argued.
Representing Ajay Hinduja, lawyer Yael Hayat had slammed the “excessive” indictment, arguing the trial should be a question of “justice, not social justice”.
Namrata Hinduja’s lawyer Romain Jordan also pleaded for acquittal, claiming the prosecutors were aiming to make an example of the family.
He argued the prosecution had failed to mention payments made to staff on top of their cash salaries.
“No employee was cheated out of his or her salary,” Assael added.
Some staff even asked for raises, which they received.