Swiss jail sentences in opposition to members of Britain’s richest household

4 members of the British Hinduja household had been sentenced to jail on Friday for exploiting Indian workers at their mansion in Geneva.

Prakash Hinduja and his spouse Kamal Hinduja received 4 years and 6 months every, whereas their son Ajay and his spouse Namrata received 4 years in jail. They didn’t seem in court docket.

The household, which has a fortune estimated at $47 billion, was acquitted of human trafficking however was convicted on plenty of different counts.

The lawsuits in opposition to them are based mostly on the household’s follow of bringing in servants from India. The Hindujas are additionally accused of confiscating the Indians’ passports following they had been flown to Switzerland. Prosecutors claimed the Hindujas paid their workers pittance and gave them little freedom to go away the home.

In his closing proceedings, the prosecutor accused the household of abusing the connection between the highly effective employer and the susceptible employees to be able to lower your expenses. Family workers had been paid a wage of between 250 and 450 {dollars} a month, far beneath what they might count on to earn in Switzerland.

The household’s protection attorneys say the three plaintiffs obtained massive advantages, weren’t stored in isolation and had been allowed to go away the mansion every time they needed. Co-counsel Robert Assael argued that the workers had been grateful that the Hindujas had given them a greater life.

The Hinduja household owns plenty of shares in oil, fuel, banking and healthcare. 200,000 folks in 38 nations are employed by the Hinduja group.