New Delhi: Four members of the wealthy Hinduja family were sentenced to up to 4.5 years in prison by a Swiss criminal court Friday for exploiting their domestic staff. However, the court dismissed the human trafficking charges against them, observing that the workers were aware of the conditions they were agreeing to.
Hinduja Group chairman in Europe Prakash Hinduja, his wife Kamal, son Ajay, and daughter-in-law Namrata were found guilty of worker exploitation and illegal employment.
Prakash and Kamal were each sentenced to four years and six months in prison. Ajay and Namrata were handed down four-year prison terms. The four were not present in the Geneva court when the ruling was delivered.
The charges against the family included confiscating workers’ passports, paying them in Indian rupees instead of Swiss francs, restricting their movement, and subjecting them to gruelling work hours for minimal pay in Switzerland.
The workers, primarily Hindi-speaking individuals from India, were employed at the family’s lakeside villa in Geneva.
According to the prosecution, there were three more plaintiffs, who had withdrawn their cases. Last week, it was revealed in criminal court that the family had reached an undisclosed settlement with the plaintiffs. Geneva prosecutors had initiated the case, citing alleged illegal activities such as exploitation, human trafficking, and violations of Swiss labour laws.
Moreover, prosecutors indicated that workers, including cooks and house help, were sometimes compelled to work for up to 18 hours a day with minimal or no vacation time, and were paid less than a tenth of the legally required amount under Swiss law. They also insisted that the family pay 1 million francs in court costs, and contribute 3.5 million francs to a compensation fund for the staff.
As of November 2023, the Hinduja family, which heads the multinational conglomerate Hinduja Group, had an estimated net worth of $20 billion, according to Forbes. The group’s business interests span sectors, such as mobility, lubricants, banking, healthcare and digital media.
Forbes ranked the family as the seventh wealthiest in India in 2023, the 146th richest worldwide in 2022 and 12th richest in Asia in 2017, although they fell off the global list in 2023.
According to the Hinduja Group’s website, Parmanand Deepchand Hinduja, father of the Hinduja brothers, began trading goods in Shikarpur, Sindh (now in Pakistan) during British rule. He relocated his merchant banking and trade operations to Bombay (now Mumbai) in 1914, and established an international office in Iran in 1919.
The brothers — Srichand P. Hinduja, Gopichand P. Hinduja, Prakash P. Hinduja and Ashok P. Hinduja — moved their headquarters to London in 1979. The group claims to have a footprint across 38 countries and a 200,000-plus strong team.
Srichand, also known as SP, took charge in November 1935, and is recognised for founding IndusInd Bank, while Gopichand is the group chairman since May 2023.
According to a Bloomberg report, the Hinduja Group plans to raise about ₹7,300 crore ($873 million) through two rupee bond offerings as part of their strategy to fund the acquisition of Reliance Capital.
(Edited by Mannat Chugh)
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