You may have never heard of the Hinduja family, robber barons based in England, Switzerland, Monaco and the UAE. The head of the family, 79 year old Prakash, is worth close to $40 billion and the family, the richest in the U.K., is one of the wealthiest in Europe. For those who follow these kinds of things, he’s best known as a tax cheat— on a massive scale (around $140 million is owed to Switzerland in a still-pending case)— a human trafficker and an all around scumbag. Last week, he, his wife (Kamal), his son (Ajay) and daughter-in-law (Namrata) were all sentenced by a Swiss court to between 4 and 4.5 years in prison. The fines are nearly a million dollars, basically spare change for this family when a more equitable fine would have been at least $10 billion. They have paid large sums to the servants to not testify against them in the appeals process.
Imagine a court with the integrity to send a billionaire to prison! Imagine if we had any like that here! Although… 4 years seems a little light for these creeps. The Daily Beast reported that Swiss prosecutors had charged the Hindujas with human trafficking and exploiting domestic workers at their Geneva mansion. “According to prosecutors,” wrote Noah Kirsch, “the Hindujas spent more money on their dog than on staff members at their Lake Geneva compound.”
The domestic servants were forced to work 18-hour days, in some cases earning less than $10. The family was also accused of restricting their employees’ ability to travel, including by taking their passports and paying them— infrequently— in Indian rupees and only about 10% of what is required by Swiss law, while creating “a climate for fear” in the mansion. Prakash had been convicted on similar charges in 2007. “The Hindujas were also accused of denying their employees freedom of mobility by taking their passports and preventing them from leaving the house without their employer’s permission.”
The billionaires are playing the victims. Their lawyers whined that “No other family would have been treated in this way. Our clients remain determined to defend themselves and have confidence in the judicial system… 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 [judgment] not effective.”
The Hindujas owe their wealth to their Indian-based conglomerate, which has a vast number of global subdivisions specializing in chemicals, banking, media, real estate, and other sectors. The company, which says it has more than 200,000 employees, was founded by Prakash Hinduja’s father, Parmanand.
It’s not yet clear how the convictions will impact the business’ operations. Other family members will likely step in if the defendants are ultimately sent to jail.
Prakash, known as “PP,” began working for the company in Iran after graduating from college, then relocated to Geneva to lead the European outfit. He has lived in Monaco since 2008.
It wasn’t long ago that the Hindujas were gladhanding with dignitaries and celebrities.
In 2023, Prakash and Kamal were photographed with Princess Anne— daughter of Queen Elizabeth— at the unveiling of Hinduja Group’s new luxury hotel in London. Prime Minister Rishi Sunak reportedly also dropped by, and Andrea Bocelli and Andrew Lloyd Webber performed.
Prakash and his brother Ashok previously met with Juan Carlos I, the former King of Spain; Prakash has also posed with a South African minister, the president of Nigeria, and the Dalai Lama, and has soaked up the Cannes Film Festival in the South of France.
Other members of the Hinduja dynasty who were not named in the criminal complaint have schmoozed with Jennifer Lopez and Nicole Scherzinger, King Charles, and former Prime Minister Tony Blair.
Perhaps most infamously, Labour politician Peter Mandelson resigned as a British minister under Tony Blair in 2001 amid allegations that he helped Prakash’s late brother, Srichand, gain U.K. citizenship in exchange for the family’s donation to a public project.
“I do not accept in any way that I have acted improperly in respect of any application for naturalization as a British citizen,” Mandelson said at the time.
As The Guardian reported in 2001, “the tentacles of the Hindujas have touched prominent figures in all the main parties,” and roughly “a dozen candidates at the last election, Labour and Tory, [were] rumoured at Westminster to have received donations from the brothers.”
The outlet noted that some members of the family were “facing possible corruption charges in India over an arms scandal.” The charges against them were later thrown out.
How Trump missed this crew is hard to understand. All I can say is that they’re very lucky I wasn’t the sentencing judge.