BRITAIN’S richest family spent more on their pet dog than on wages for one of their workers, a court in Switzerland has heard.
A servant of the multi-billionaire Hinduja family was paid just seven Swiss francs (£6.19) to work for up to 18 hours a day, seven days a week, Geneva‘s criminal court was told on Monday.
EPAAjay Hinduja (L) and his wife Namrata arrive with their lawyer Robert Assael, June 10[/caption]
EPALawyers Yael Hayat (centre-right), Robert Assael (3-R), and Nicolas Jeandin (2-R) arrive at the court house with their clients Ajay Hinduja (2-L) and his wife Namrata (C-L), June 10[/caption]
Four members of the Hinduja family – which has an estimated net worth of £37 billion – have been accused of trafficking and exploitation of staff at their Lake Geneva villa, Bloomberg reported.
Prosecutor Yves Bertossa referenced a budget document called “Pets”, which he said revealed that the family spent 8,584 Swiss francs in a year on their family dog.
He said: “They spent more for one dog than one of their servants.”
Prosecutors have called for prison sentences of as long as five-and-a-half years and for the family to pay 3.5million Swiss francs to a fund for compensating staff.
They have also demanded the family cover 1 million Swiss francs in court costs.
Staff contracts allegedly excluded reference to specific working hours or days off.
It was also claimed that employee passports were confiscated and they could not leave the house without the permission of their employer.
The lawsuit was filed against four members of the family.
This includes Prakash Hinduja, 78, his wife Kamal, their son Ajay and his wife Namrata.
The Hindujas’ lawyers rejected the claims and referenced testimony from workers who said they were treated with dignity and respect.
Ajay Hinduja’s lawyer, Yael Hayat, said salaries by themselves did not accurately reflect staff pay because they were also given board and lodgings.
Lawyers argued that the salary “can’t simply be reduced to what they were paid in cash”.
The court was also told that 18-hour days were an exaggeration.
“When they sit down to watch a movie with the kids, can that be considered work? I think not,” said Yael Hayat, a lawyer for Ajay Hinduja.
Ajay told the court he did not have detailed knowledge of employees’ working conditions as the Hinduja Group in India handled recruitment.
But he said staff are now no longer paid informally and hiring is done locally through a third party.
Inside Btain’s richest family
The Hindujas are Britain’s richest family, with the Sunday Times Rich List estimating their net worth at £37.2billion.
The family’s famed patriarch, Srichand, died in 2023 at the age of 87.
Srichand was chairman of the family business group, which owns a variety of companies across his native India, including in banking, commercial vehicle sales and chemicals.
In the UK, where the family largely reside, the family bought several high-value properties, including a vast 18th Century home near Buckingham Palace and the historic Old War Office building in Whitehall.
They also acquired parts of the defunct British motoring giant British Leyland in 1987.
Srichand and his brothers Gopichand, Prakash and Ashok built the company up after it was established by their late-father Parmanand.
Paramanand started out trading spices, carpets and tea in 1914 in an area of British India in what is now Pakistan.
Their first international branch was opened in Iran in 1919, before the company was forced to relocate to London by the Iranian Revolution in 1979.
Srichand and Gopichand co-chaired the group from London, while Prakash manages the company’s operations in Switzerland and Ashok is responsible for the Indian branch.
The family made mostly made their money in exports of oil and telecommunications equipment as well as their business dubbing Hindi films into Persian in Iran.
EPAAjay Hinduja (R) arrives for the resumption day of the trial, June 10[/caption]