Britain's richest family is sentenced to prison

 

Switzerland
Britain's richest family in prison - gave employees starvation wages

Ellen Sundstrom

Updated 22.08 | Published 21.04

Britain's richest family is sentenced to prison.

They allegedly paid their employees starvation wages, took their passports and prevented them from leaving the family's luxury villa.

- No employee was cheated on their salary, says the family's defense lawyer Robert Assael.
 

Quick version

•  Four members of Britain's richest Hinduja family have been jailed by a Swiss court for exploiting their maids.
• The family, which owns the Hinduja Group corporate empire, paid its employees starvation wages and prevented them from leaving the family's luxury villa in Geneva.
• Despite the family being among the richest in the world, they spent more money on their dog than on their staff. They plan to appeal the verdict.

Four members of the Hinduja family have been sentenced by a Swiss court to several years in prison after exploiting their maids in their property in Geneva, writes The Guardian.

The couple Prakash and Kamal Hinduja get four and a half years each. Their son Ajay and his wife Namrata get four years each.

The family is worth 37 billion pounds, which corresponds to almost 500 billion Swedish kronor. They run the corporate empire The Hinduja Group, which invests in oil, gas, banking and healthcare in 38 countries, and employs approximately 200,000 people.

Ajay Hinduja and wife Namrata, here with lawyer Robert Assael. Photo: Salvatore Di Nolfi / EPA

Put more money on the dog

Despite the billions and the luxury villa, they paid their employees starvation wages. The monthly salary was between 220 and 400 Swiss francs, which corresponds to approximately 2,600 and 4,700 Swedish kronor. According to prosecutor Yves Bertossa, the family spent more money on their dog than on the staff.

- They profit from the world's misery, Bertossa told the court.

Many of the staff, who could not speak English, had their salaries paid in rupees to bank accounts in India that the staff did not have access to while ini Switzerland, according to The Economic Times.

The three plaintiffs also say they were forced to work long hours, sometimes as much as 18 hours straight, seven days a week with minimal health benefits and little or no vacation time.

The staff also had their passports confiscated by the Hinduja family when they arrived in Switzerland from India, and were barely allowed to leave the Geneva villa. It also emerged that the staff often slept on mattresses in the basement.

The family's defense lawyers Nicolas Jeandin and Robert Assael. Photo: Martial Trezzini / AP

"Not ill-treated slaves"

The family's legal team denied the allegations, saying the staff were treated respectfully and given access to proper accommodation.

- This is not about badly treated slaves, said one of the family's defense lawyers, Nicolas Jeandin.

The affected people in the Hinduja family were all cleared of suspicion of human trafficking, but have still expressed their dissatisfaction with the verdict, and say they will appeal to have it overturned.

Swiss authorities have confiscated valuable family possessions such as diamonds, rubies and a platinum necklace to cover legal costs.