MUMBAI: The Hindujas, the richest family in England with an over 37 billion pound fortune, have moved the appeals court against the lower court conviction of 4-4.5 years of jail term for four of their family members for exploiting staff at their Geneva villa.
Those convicted are Prakash Hinduja his wife Kamal, their son Ajay and his wife Namrata, for slave like treatment to their servants—all semi-literate from India which happened in their luxury villa facing the Geneva lake over the years.
With over 37 billion pound of wealth, the Hinduja family is the riches in England and they have interests in oil, gas, and banking. The family also owns the famed Raffles hotel in London.
In a media statement Saturday, the family’s advocates Yael Hayat, Robert Assael and Romain Jordan representing Prakash, Kamal, Ajay and Namrata said, they have already filed an appeal in a higher court against the sentence.
“While 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,” the statement quoted these lawyers as saying.
The lawyers further said under Swiss law, the presumption of innocence is paramount till a final judgement by the highest adjudicating authority is enforced.
They also denied that their clients have already been detailed by the police, saying “contrary to some media reports, there is no effective detention for any members of the family.”
They also claimed that the plaintiffs had already withdrawn their respective complaints after declaring to the court that they had never intended to be involved in such proceedings.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 Swiss judicial process and remains confident that the truth will prevail, they added.
A lower level (a court of first instance) Swiss court on Friday found all these four Hindujas guilty of exploitation and illegal employment and handed sentences ranging from four to four-and-a-half years in prison. But the court acquitted them on the more serious charge of human trafficking.
According to a BBC reports, three workers, who are the main complainants and were brought over from their India alleged the family paid them as little as 7 pounds ($8) to work 18-hour days, which is not even a tenth of the amount required under Swiss law-and confiscated their passports.
They also claimed the family, whose fortune is estimated at around 37 billion pounds, rarely allowed them to leave the house, which is in Geneva’s wealthy neighbourhood of Cologny.
During the trial, prosecutors alleged the family spent more on their dog than on their servants.
The defence argued the employees got ample benefits and denied that they were kept in isolation but were free to leave the villa.
The employees "were grateful to the Hindujas for offering them a better life", Assael argued.
The elder Hindujas, both over 70, did not attend court proceedings, citing ill health while Ajay and Namrata were present in the court but did not wait to hear the verdict.
Following the verdict, the prosecution sought an immediate detention order for the younger Hinduja couple, but the judge did not allow the same.
The defence said Kamal Hindula is currently in hospital in Monaco and the other three family members are at his bedside.
According to the BBC report, it is not the first time that Geneva, a hub for international organisations and the home for tens of hundreds of the world’s wealthy, has been in the spotlight over the alleged mistreatment of servants.
Last year, four domestic workers from the Philippines filed a case against one of Geneva’s diplomatic missions to the United Nations, claiming they were not paid for years.