Scandal haunts Britain's richest family!

A major scandal haunts four members of Britain's richest families after a court sentenced them to prison on charges of exploiting their servants after they were accused of spending more money on their pet dog than one of their servants.

A Swiss criminal court convicted Prakash Hinduja, 78, his wife, son and daughter-in-law of exploiting their servants and providing unauthorised employment opportunities, but dismissed more serious charges of human trafficking.

Exploitation of workers

The family, Britain's richest with a net worth of more than £37 billion, has been accused of trafficking and exploiting workers, most of whom are illiterate Indians, at their Swiss villa.

Earlier this week, the court heard testimony from employees who revealed that they had little freedom while working for the family.

They also said their passports were confiscated, they were paid in Indian rupees and they were not allowed to leave the house without permission.

Yves Bertossa, the prosecutor, alleged that the staff were forced to work punishingly long hours for very low wages.

Very low wages

The court heard that some staff were paid less than 10% of the amount required by Swiss law, while they were given little or no holiday leave.

Servants were alleged to have worked long hours at receptions and slept in the basement of the villa, sometimes on a mattress on the floor.

One woman was allegedly paid as little as seven Swiss francs (£6.19) for working up to 18 hours a day, seven days a week.

In contrast, prosecutors pointed to financial documents headed “Pets” which showed the family had spent 8,584 Swiss francs in a year on their dog. Prosecutors accused Kamal Hinduja of creating a "climate of fear".

"They were exploited because their situation in India was precarious, they were exploited because they did not know the language, their passports were confiscated and they were only paid every three to six months," Judge Sabina Mascotto said.

Fines and prison sentences

The defendants were sentenced to prison terms of between four and four-and-a-half years each, with lawyers saying they would appeal, according to the British newspaper The Telegraph.

Prakash and Kamal Hinduja were each sentenced to four-and-a-half years in prison, while their son Ajay and his wife Namrata were sentenced to four years each. The defendants were not present in court in Geneva.

The fifth defendant, the family's business manager Najib Ziazi, attended the sentencing hearing and was given an 18-month suspended sentence.

In addition to the prison sentences, the judge ordered the family to pay 850,000 Swiss francs in damages and 270,000 francs in legal fees.

The Hinduja family, through the Hinduja Group, controls companies in nearly a dozen sectors, from finance and IT to infrastructure.

They also own luxury properties in London, including the Raffles Hotel in the old War Office in Whitehall, where the penthouse suite costs £25,000 a night.

The family has been living in Switzerland since the late 1980s, and Prakash was granted citizenship in 2000.

He was previously convicted of similar, but less serious, charges in 2007. However, prosecutors said he continued to employ workers without proper paperwork.

The Hinduja family reached an undisclosed settlement with the employees last week, ending a civil case that was first filed six years ago.