Hinduja descendant in Swiss human trafficking trial claims Nanny was like a 'second mom' to her family

The scion of the billionaire Hinduja family has dismissed claims he overworked an Indian nanny at his Swiss villa, saying it would have been foolish to do so when she was like a “second mom” to his children.

Ajay Hinduja was testifying on the first day of the trial in Geneva of a branch of one of India's most important families, accused of human trafficking and overwork of domestic staff.

Ajay Hinduja, his wife Namrata and their parents Prakash and Kamal were all indicted last year by Geneva prosecutors for allegedly making their employees work up to 18 hours a day without a day off at their villa overlooking Lake Geneva .

“Anyone who would make an employee work that hard would be an idiot,” Ajay Hinduja told the court Monday. “She could not have done her job properly if she had worked 18 hours a day, 7 days a week.”

“I am shocked that someone we considered the second mother of our children could accuse us of something as humiliating as human trafficking,” he said later during the hearing, testifying mainly in French.

He said he wanted to thank the woman for her work for the family, adding that she was always in touch with her children and sent them Diwali wishes over the phone.

The family confiscated their employees' passports and made them work on short-term tourist visas obtained repeatedly under false pretenses, prosecutors say. Ajay Hinduja rejected the accusation and said the employees had contracts approved by the Swiss embassy in India and their visas were regularly renewed by cantonal authorities in Geneva.

Judge Sabina Mascotto immediately refuted this characterization of the events, saying that checks had shown that the staff did not have the appropriate Swiss documents. Instead, they only had French-issued visas for the Schengen zone, referring to the European Travel Area, which allows people to travel without passport checks.

Ajay Hinduja said his staff were allowed to come and go from the house as they pleased, provided that at least one of them was at home at all times for security reasons. Asked about their salaries, which prosecutors say never amounted to more than a few hundred Swiss francs a month – a fraction of local salaries – he replied that it was the Hinduja group's human resources department that handled all the recruiting and contracts, not him.

On Monday evening, he said his lawyers and those of the three plaintiffs were “close to” reaching an agreement that would see staff withdraw their complaints. But even if a deal was reached, it would still mean the criminal trial would continue.

The 56-year-old, who sits on the board of directors of the Hinduja Group, one of India's largest conglomerates, has always maintained that all staff recruitment was done in India.

'Regret'
His only regret, he testified, was not becoming more involved in the running of the home after his parents were found guilty of minor offenses, having been reported to an employment tribunal in 2006.

“I regret not having analyzed the situation more closely,” he said, partly because he was very busy with his own work. “I had confidence” in our legal advisers, he said.

The trial only began on Monday after the Hindujas obtained a postponement, citing the parents' inability to travel due to poor health. The lawyers then requested that the judge be recused, citing alleged bias, and that the case be sent back for reconsideration. Both requests were rejected.