4 members of Hinduja family get prison in Switzerland for exploiting domestic workers
Geneva (AP): An Indian-born billionaire and three family members were sentenced to prison on Friday for exploiting domestic workers at their lakeside villa in Switzerland by seizing their passports, barring them from going out and making them work up to 18 hours a day.
A Swiss court dismissed more serious charges of human trafficking against 79-year-old tycoon Prakash Hinduja; his wife, Kamal; son Ajay and daughter-in-law Namrata on the grounds that the workers understood what they were getting into, at least in part. The four received between four and 4 1/2 years in prison.
The workers were mostly illiterate Indians who were paid not in Swiss francs but in Indian rupees, deposited in banks back home that they couldn't access.
Lawyers representing the defendants said they would appeal.
Robert Assael, a lawyer for Kamal Hinduja, said he was “relieved” that the court threw out the trafficking charges but called the sentence excessive.
“The health of our clients is very poor, they are elderly people,” he said, explaining why the family was not in court. He said Hinduja's 75-year-old wife was in intensive care and the family was with her.
A fifth defendant - Najib Ziazi, the family's business manager - received an 18-month suspended sentence.
Last week, it emerged in court that the family had reached an undisclosed settlement with the plaintiffs. Swiss authorities have seized diamonds, rubies, a platinum necklace and other jewelry and assets in anticipation that they could be used to pay for legal fees and possible penalties.
Along with three brothers, Prakash Hinduja leads an industrial conglomerate in sectors including information technology, media, power, real estate and health care. Forbes magazine has put the Hinduja family's net worth at some $20 billion.
The family set up residence in Switzerland in the 1980s, and Hinduja was convicted in 2007 on similar charges. A separate tax case brought by Swiss authorities is pending against Hinduja, who obtained Swiss citizenship in 2000.
In this case, the court said the four were guilty of exploiting the workers and providing unauthorised employment, giving meager if any health benefits and paying wages that were less than one-tenth the pay for such jobs in Switzerland.
Prosecutors said workers described a “climate of fear” instituted by Kamal Hinduja. They were forced to work with little or no vacation time, and worked even later hours for receptions. They slept in the basement, sometimes on a mattress on the floor.
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TTD asks KMF to supply more ghee to prepare Tirupati laddus
Bengaluru: The Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams (TTD) trust has restarted sourcing the cow ghee ‘Nandini’, manufactured by the Karnataka Milk Federation (KMF), following the recent outbreak of a controversy alleging the use of adulterated ghee containing animal fat in the Tirupati laddus.
While the trust had been using only ‘Nandini’ ghee produced by KMF for decades, the last few years had seen private dairies being awarded contracts to supply ghee to TTD to prepare the laddus. In the aftermath of the controversy, which affected the trust severely, however, TTD opted to restart the procurement of pure cow ghee from KMF, reports Times of India.
KMF was awarded tenders to supply 350 tonnes of ghee to TTD during the next three months and sent its first consignment from Bengaluru to Tirumala on September 20. As the TTD used up to 250 tonnes of the cow ghee in the production of laddus already, it has asked KMF to send an additional 250 tonnes of the ghee to Tirumala.
MK Jagadish, Managing Director of KMF, has confirmed that KMF received the request from TTD for ghee on Thursday and clarified that, as per the latest tender, the supply of additional ghee would be made at the same cost. The TTD was currently paying Rs 475 per kg of ghee to KMF. He also said that the corporation had a stock of about 7,500 tonnes of ghee and was equipped to supply as much as required to TTD at present.
To ensure the safe delivery of pure cow ghee to TTD, the KMF has installed GPS trackers on all its tankers transporting the product to Tirumala, the MD said.
The TTD Executive Oficer J Syamala Rao, who stressed that the trust would not compromise on the quality of ghee, said that the KMF would be asked for more ghee if necessary. The officer added that fresh tenders were being floated for additional ghee supply for preparation of the Tirupati laddus.
As the Karnataka state government has mandated the use of ‘Nandini’ ghee for preparation of the offering (prasada) and other food items given to devotees, KMF is now flooded with orders from several religious institutions and temples across the state. In addition, the KMF is supplying 2,500 tonnes of ghee for retail and other purposes, said KMF MD Jagadish. The Federation has additionally stocked up 6,000 tonnes of butter to cater to a possible hike in demand in the domestic market and is confident of not falling short of ghee supply at any point in time, the MD added.
KMF sources raw material only from the milk unions of the Kolar-Chikkaballapur region for Nandini ghee, which was popular on account of its viscous quality, purity, and distinct aroma. It had been the only choice of TTD used in the preparation of the Tirupati laddus, till the trust handed contracts to other firms too, recently.
