Will there be a settlement between the complaining parties and the Hinduja family or not? This was the underlying question of this day of hearing before the Geneva Criminal Court. After being postponed, the debates finally began this Monday. On one side of the screen: three ex-employees who claim to have been victims of human trafficking from the end of 2006 to the spring of 2018 – the date on which the affair broke out (read the box). On the other: three of the five defendants. Both the father, Prakash Hinduja, aged 78, and the mother, Kamal, aged 75, are missing. On the bench are: the son (56 years old); the daughter-in-law (50 years old) and the financial director (64 years old).
Mid-morning, after yet another attempt by the defense to postpone the trial again, the two parties announced that they were working towards an agreement, in this case financial. If this was concluded, the complainants could withdraw from the game. However, the accusation brought by the Public Prosecutor’s Office would remain. The trial would therefore continue its course.
While awaiting the conclusion or not of the said agreement, the debates have indeed begun. Asked about their personalities, the couple were not very verbose when it came to talking about money. “We do not comment on the fortunes of the group,” said the fifty-year-old soberly. Asked about his monthly expenses, his wife described his lifestyle as “comfortable, standard”.
Concerning the facts, the Hinduja son put forward fragments of unconvincing explanations. “I have never recruited or had staff recruited in India,” he assured. “It’s not me who has three employees, it’s the house…”. Concerning the lack of authorization, the defendant said: “I didn’t know that Switzerland was so poorly organized.” In his eyes, the Swiss embassy in India as well as the Cantonal Population and Migration Office (OCPM) were informed and provided the necessary documents. “Today I learned that it was worthless!”
Speaking of a “bogus complaint of human trafficking”, he denied that staff were able to work 7 days a week, 18 hours a day. “It’s a lie!” he blurted. And added: “It would be stupid to make the nanny (whom he describes as a “second mother for the children”) work so much, because she would not have been able to take care of them properly.” Regarding the living conditions of the employees, housed for several months in an anti-atomic shelter, the defendant indicated that he had not gone to see for himself and that he regretted it.
As of 6:15 p.m., no agreement had yet been reached. The hearing continues at least throughout the week. The deliberation is expected Friday June 21.
“From dawn until late at night”
It was on April 12, 2018 that the police arrived in the 400 m villa2 of the Hinduja family, in Cologny (GE). Since November 2017, surveillance cameras have been focused on the garden and near the residence. Added to this were statements from members of the household staff who worked for the family for years. They claimed to have been housed in a windowless fallout shelter in the basement of the villa, sleeping on bunk beds.
They claimed to have worked “every day, from dawn until late in the evening or at night, without a day off” and for very low wages, ten times lower than those provided for by the collective labor agreement. : between 100 and 400fr. per month. The plaintiffs also described rationed food and passports confiscated by their boss.
