Four members of Britain’s richest family have received jail sentences after being found guilty of exploiting their workers and providing unauthorised employment.
Prakash Hinduja and his wife Kamal, along with their son Ajay and his wife Namrata, were, however, cleared by a Swiss court of more serious charges of human trafficking linked to their servants.
The court ruled the servants, who were mostly illiterate Indians and worked at their lakeside villa in Geneva, knew what they were getting into.
The four family members were sentenced to between four and four-and-a-half years in prison.
The lawyers representing the defendants said they would appeal.
They were accused of seizing workers’ passports, paying them in rupees – not Swiss francs – barring them from leaving the villa and forcing them to work excruciatingly long hours for a pittance in Switzerland, among other things.
The defendants were not in court in Geneva though a fifth defendant – Najib Ziazi, the family’s business manager – was in attendance. He received an 18-month suspended sentence.
More from World
The Hinduja family, led by Gopi Hinduja, topped the 2024 Sunday Times rich list with a combined wealth of £37.196bn.
This breaking news story is being updated and more details will be published shortly.
Advertisement
Please refresh the page for the fullest version.
You can receive Breaking News alerts on a smartphone or tablet via the Sky News App. You can also follow @SkyNews on X or subscribe to our YouTube channel to keep up with the latest news.
Source : Sky News
