Who are the Hindujas? Meet the Indian-British billionaires jailed for exploiting domestic workers in Switzerland

Four members of the UK's richest family have been sentenced to prison in Switzerland for worker exploitation.

Indian-origin tycoon Prakash Hinduja, his wife Kamal, son Ajay and daughter-in-law Namrata, have been found guilty of exploiting domestic workers at their lakeside villa in Switzerland.

They seized the workers' passports, barred them from going out and forced them to work up to 18 hours a day.

The family was sentenced to between four and four and a half years in prison.

So who is the billionaire family?

Britain's richest family

Last month, the family – which is behind the Hinduja Group – topped the UK's Sunday Times Rich List, with a combined fortune worth £37.2 billion ($70.8 billion). of dollars).

They are also ranked among the 20 richest families in Asia.

The Hinduja Group is an Indian transnational conglomerate active in sectors including information technology, media, energy, real estate and healthcare.

It is led by President Gopi Hinduja, an Indian-British billionaire who is the brother of Prakash Hinduja.

Prakash is President of the Hinduja Group in Europe and manages the group's operations in Geneva.

He and his wife currently live in Monaco, Forbes reports, and own real estate in London, including the Raffles London hotel.

Hinduja, 79, was convicted in 2007 on similar charges and another tax case brought by Swiss authorities is pending against him.

He obtained Swiss citizenship in 2000 after settling in the country in the 1980s.

His younger brother Ashok oversees the group's Indian interests.

A climate of fear

The court said the four men were guilty of exploiting workers and providing unauthorized employment, providing minimal or no health benefits, and paying wages less than a tenth of the salary for such employment in Switzerland.

Prosecutors said the workers described a “climate of fear” created by Kamal Hinduja, 75.

Prosecutor Yves Bertossa accused the Hindujas of spending “more on their dog than on their domestic employees.”

The family paid the household staff around 325 Swiss francs ($545) a month, up to 90 percent less than the going rate, the judge said.

The workers were mostly illiterate Indians who were not paid in Swiss francs but in Indian rupees, deposited in banks in their country to which they had no access.

Workers were forced to work with little or no vacation and worked extended hours for functions.

They slept in the basement, sometimes on a mattress placed on the floor.

What is the sentence?

Ajay Hinduja and his wife Namrata were sentenced to four years in prison, while his mother and father were sentenced to four and a half years in prison.

They were not present in court during the verdict.