Four members of the Hinduja family have been sentenced to between four and 4 1/2 years in prison by a Swiss criminal court for allegedly exploiting their domestic workers. The court has also levelled some severe charges of human trafficking.
The four members of the Hinduja family including Indian-born tycoon Prakash Hinduja and his wife, son and daughter-in-law were accused of trafficking of their servants, mostly illiterate Indians, who were employed at their luxurious lakeside villa in Geneva.
The four were not in court in Geneva though a fifth defendant — Najib Ziazi, the family's business manager — was in attendance. He received an 18-month suspended sentence.
In a statement issued on behalf of the family, lawyers from Switzerland stressed their clients – Prakash and Kamal Hinduja, both in their 70s, and their son Ajay and his wife Namrata – had been acquitted of all human trafficking charges.
They also dismissed media reporting that any members of the family faced detention after court reports from Geneva said the four were sentenced to between four and four-and-a-half years in prison.
“Our clients have been acquitted of all human trafficking charges. We are appalled and disappointed by the rest of the decision made in this court of first instance, and we have of course filed an appeal to the higher court thereby making this part of the judgement not effective,” reads the statement signed by lawyers Yael Hayat and Robert Assael and Roman Jordan.
“Under Swiss law, the presumption of innocence is paramount till a final judgement by the highest adjudicating authority is enforced. Contrary to some media reports, there is no effective detention for any members of the family,” they said.
The lawyers also pointed out that “it should also be recalled that the plaintiffs in this case had withdrawn their respective complaints after declaring to the court that they had never intended to be involved in such proceedings”.
“The family has full faith in the judicial process and remains confident that the truth will prevail,” they conclude.
The statement followed a hearing in the Swiss city of Geneva after prosecutors opened the case for alleged illegal activity including exploitation, human trafficking and violation of Switzerland’s labour laws.
The four Hinduja family members were accused of seizing workers' passports, paying them in rupees – not Swiss francs — barring them from leaving the villa and forcing them to work excruciatingly long hours for a pittance in Switzerland, among other things.
Last week, it emerged in criminal court that the family — which has roots in India — had reached an undisclosed settlement with the plaintiffs. Geneva prosecutors opened the case for alleged illegal activity including exploitation, human trafficking and violation of Swiss labour laws.
The family set up residence in Switzerland decades ago, and Prakash was already convicted in 2007 on similar, if lesser charges, though prosecutors say he persisted in employing people without proper paperwork anyway.
Swiss authorities have already seized diamonds, rubies, a platinum necklace and other jewellery and assets from the family in anticipation that they could be used to pay for legal fees and possible penalties.
Prosecutors said that at times the staffers — in jobs like cooks or house help — were forced to work up to 18 hours a day with little or no vacation time off and for pay that was equal to less than one-tenth of the comparable amount required under Swiss law.
Employees worked even later hours for receptions and slept in the basement of the villa in the upscale Cologny neighbourhood — sometimes on a mattress on the floor, prosecutors said. They described a “climate of fear” instituted by Kamal Hinduja.
Some employees allegedly spoke only Hindi and were paid their wages in Indian rupees in banks back home that they couldn't access. A separate tax case brought by Swiss authorities is pending against Prakash Hinduja, who obtained Swiss citizenship in 2000.
Along with three brothers, he is a leader of an industrial conglomerate in sectors including information technology, media, power, real estate and health care. Forbes magazine currently puts the net worth of the Hinduja family at some $20 billion.
With inputs from PTI
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