Billionaire Hinduja Family Faces Human Trafficking Trial Over Exploitation Allegations at Swiss Villa
The billionaire Hinduja family has been accused of exploiting household staff at their villa on Lake Geneva.
The family paid as little as $8 for work days that stretched from 15 to 18 hours and confiscated the passports of those who worked for them, allegations a lawyer for the family has denied, according to reports.
A human trafficking trial began in Switzerland Monday against four members of the Hinduja family namely, elders Prakash and Kamal Hinduja, their son Ajay and his wife Namrata.
They are facing criminal charges of human trafficking and their trial began Monday, Bloomberg reported, days after they settled a civil case brought by their staff over the alleged worker exploitation.
Details of the settlement were not disclosed but the parties reached an agreement Friday, six years after the civil suit was filed, over allegations they paid their staff, including childcare workers, a fraction of local wages and forced them to work illegally long hours.
Yael Hayat, attorney for Ajay Hinduja, reportedly said in court that claims of an 18-hour work day were an exaggeration and that the salaries, said to be below $8 per day, “can’t simply be reduced to what they were paid in cash” because staff food and lodging were paid for by the family.
Prosecutors are pushing for years-long prison sentences for all four Hinduja family members and want to demand a compensation fund worth millions of dollars be established for staff members.
Lawyers for the Hinduja family pushed back on the claims, saying the family members themselves were not involved in the hiring or day-to-day handling of staff.
Forbes reported that Romain Jordan, an attorney for the family, as saying in a statement that the criminal indictment is “excessive” and accused the prosecutor of being biased toward the Hindujas: “No other family would have been treated in this way. Our clients remain determined to defend themselves and have confidence in the judicial system,” he said.