Who Are the Hindujas? What Charges Are Put on the Richest Family of UK?

A total of four members of the wealthiest family of the United Kingdom have been sentenced to jail for a term of 4 years and 6 months on Friday. The charge on them is for exploiting the domestic workers.

The Sunday Times list of the 350 richest people of the United Kingdom holds the Hinduja family on top with a net worth of $20 billion. It is important to note that Gopi Hinduja himself was actually not named n the case.

The Hinduja Group

The Hinduja Group actually holds a wide array of business interests. The businesses include trucks, lubricants, cable television, banking, and more.

It was Parmanand Deepchand Hinduja who founded the group with the merchant banking and trade business. The business was started in British India. It was in the year 1914 when it moved to Bombay. In the year 1919, the business started to go global with expanding to Iran.

The accusations against the family

Prakash Hinduja, the Indian born businessman, along with his family members are being accused of exploiting workers. The accusations are proven to be guilty in the court case in Switzerland. The members of the Hinduja family are also proven guilty of offering unauthorized employment. The human trafficking charges, however, were dismissed by the court. The court believed that the staff knew and understood the conditions they agreed to work in.

The accusations against the Hinduja family involved those of confiscating the passports of the workers, restricting the movement of the workers, making them work for long hours for low wages, and paying them in INR instead of Swiss francs.

Has it been the first time that Prakash Hinduja is being accused of charges? Well, not at all.

In the year 2007, Prakash Hinduja had been accused of charges similar to these. However, in those times, the charges were less severe than present. The man was also accused of employing staff sans proper documentation.

Yves Bertossa, the Swiss prosecutor claims that the Hinduja family actually spent more money on the pet dog, than spending on one of their servants.