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Tories received £50,000 donation from Hinduja group

Hinduja and his wife Kamal, along with their son Ajay and his wife Namrata, were cleared by a Swiss criminal court of more serious charges of human trafficking linked to their servants…reports Asian Lite News

The Conservative Party received a £50,000 donation from a firm linked to convicted billionaire businessman Prakash Hinduja, new figures show.

The Electoral Commission has revealed the Tories gained £225,587 from private donors in the last week of the general election campaign, bringing their total to £1.8m.

But the biggest single donation came from a firm called Westminster Development Services. According to Companies House, the property consortium is up to 50% owned by AMC Project Services Limited, which lists Hinduja as its owner. He was sentenced to jail last month in Switzerland, along with three of his family members, for exploiting domestic workers at their mansion in Geneva.

However, Hinduja and his wife Kamal, along with their son Ajay and his wife Namrata, were cleared by a Swiss criminal court of more serious charges of human trafficking linked to their servants.

The four family members were sentenced to between four and four-and-a-half years in prison, but their lawyers said they planned to appeal against the decision. A Conservative Party spokesperson said: “Donations to the Conservative Party are properly and transparently declared to the Electoral Commission, openly published by them, and comply fully with the law.”

Elsewhere in the figures, the commission revealed Labour received more than double the donations of the Tories during the last week of the campaign between 27 June and 4 July.The party racked up £465,600 in those final days, and its entire campaign figure dwarfed its rivals, ending at £9.5m.

The largest donor to Labour in the last week was former professional poker player Derek Web, who gave the party £250,000, followed by both the GMB and Fire Brigades Union, which donated £100,000 each. The Liberal Democrats also received £156,203 as the campaign drew to a close, with £100,000 coming from food business GADF Holdings, while Reform UK clocked up £45,000, with £25,000 donated by businessman Philip Hulme.

Election rules mean registered political parties have to submit four weekly reports setting out donations and loans they receive above £11,180.

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Swiss Court jails Hinduja family for exploiting workers

Swiss authorities have already seized diamonds, rubies, a platinum necklace and other jewellery and assets from the family in anticipation that they could be used to pay for legal fees and possible penalties…reports Asian Lite News

A Swiss criminal court on Friday sentenced four members of the wealthy Hinduja family with between four and 4 1/2 years in prison for exploiting their vulnerable domestic workers. The court at the same time threw out the more severe charges of human trafficking.

The four — Indian-born tycoon Prakash Hinduja and his wife, son and daughter-in-law — were accused of trafficking of their servants, mostly illiterate Indians, who were employed at their luxurious lakeside villa in Geneva.

The four were not in court in Geneva though a fifth defendant — Najib Ziazi, the family’s business manager — was in attendance. He received an 18 months suspended sentence.

The lawyers representing the defendants said they would appeal.

The court said the four were guilty of exploiting workers and providing unauthorised employment. It dismissed the trafficking charges on the grounds that the staff understood what they were getting into.

The four Hinduja family members were accused of seizing workers’ passports, paying them in rupees – not Swiss francs — barring them from leaving the villa and forcing them to work excruciatingly long hours for a pittance in Switzerland, among other things.

Last week, it emerged in criminal court that the family — which has roots in India — had reached an undisclosed settlement with the plaintiffs. Geneva prosecutors opened the case for alleged illegal activity including exploitation, human trafficking and violation of Swiss labour laws.

The family set up residence in Switzerland decades ago, and Prakash was already convicted in 2007 on similar, if lesser charges, though prosecutors say he persisted in employing people without proper paperwork anyway.

Swiss authorities have already seized diamonds, rubies, a platinum necklace and other jewellery and assets from the family in anticipation that they could be used to pay for legal fees and possible penalties.

Prosecutors said that at times the staffers — in jobs like cooks or house help — were forced to work up to 18 hours a day with little or no vacation time off and for pay that was equal to less than one-tenth of the comparable amount required under Swiss law.

Employees worked even later hours for receptions and slept in the basement of the villa in the upscale Cologny neighbourhood — sometimes on a mattress on the floor, prosecutors said. They described a “climate of fear” instituted by Kamal Hinduja.

Some employees allegedly spoke only Hindi and were paid their wages in Indian rupees in banks back home that they couldn’t access.

A separate tax case brought by Swiss authorities is pending against Prakash Hinduja, who obtained Swiss citizenship in 2000.

Along with three brothers, he is a leader of an industrial conglomerate in sectors including information technology, media, power, real estate and health care. Forbes magazine currently puts the net worth of the Hinduja family at some $20 billion.

“Our clients have been acquitted of all human trafficking charges”, said advocates Yael Hayat, Robert Assael and Roman Jordan, who are representing the Hinduja family in the case.

“We are appalled and disappointed by the rest of the decision made in this court of first instance, and we have of course filed an appeal to the higher court thereby making this part of the judgement not effective. Under Swiss law, the presumption of innocence is paramount till a final judgement by the highest adjudicating authority is enforced. Contrary to some media reports, there is no effective detention for any members of the family. It should also be recalled that the plaintiffs in this case had withdrawn their respective complaints after declaring to the court that they had never intended to be involved in such proceedings. The family has full faith in the Judicial Process and remains confident that the truth will prevail”, they added.

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Hinduja backs Sunak’s economic plans

Hinduja, who is not involved in negotiations, said that bureaucracy had been the “biggest problem,” but he added that the ultimate benefits for the U.K. would be wide-reaching…reports Asian Lite News

Britain’s wealthiest man, Gopichand Hinduja, condemned the U.K.’s departure from the European Union, but threw his backing behind Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s ability to revive the country’s ailing economy.

The Indian-born British billionaire, who is chairman of Indian conglomerate the Hinduja Group, said that the U.K.’s efforts to forge new trade partnerships would provide a much needed boost for the country and reestablish Britain as an “excellent” place to invest.

“The step taken of Brexit was not good for the U.K.,” Hinduja told CNBC’s Tanvir Gill in London on Monday. Britain voted to leave the European Union in 2016 and formally exited the bloc at the end of Jan. 2020.

“To correct it, now they have gone to these 11 countries. This will help,” he said, in reference to deals including the recently signed Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership.

None of those partnerships will be more valuable to the U.K. than its forthcoming free trade arrangement (FTA) with India, according to Hinduja.

“The biggest help the U.K. can get is from India, because India’s economy, by 2027, will be the third largest in the world,” he said.

Hinduja said he had revised forward his growth projection for India’s economy — currently the world’s fifth largest — from 2030 based on his instincts and experiences.

Britain and India last week concluded their 11th round of negotiations for a free trade agreement, which has faced several setbacks amid differences on some major tariff lines and investment protection rules.

Hinduja, who is not involved in negotiations, said that bureaucracy had been the “biggest problem,” but he added that the ultimate benefits for the U.K. would be wide-reaching.

“There will be a lot to be done in technologies, in infrastructure, in health, in education and, especially, in defense side the U.K. is very interested,” he said.

The 83-year-old businessman — whose business spans sectors including IT, property, energy and healthcare, earning him and his family a net worth of $35 billion in 2023 — said that he had not been deterred from investing broadly in the U.K., despite recent economic weakness.

“So far as our group is concerned, we have been in many different businesses in the U.K. and we are long-term believers. We don’t go on short-term,” he said.

“There is not a single business in our group which has closed or has not been successful,” he added.

Britain’s richest man says bureaucracy is stalling UK-India free trade agreementWATCH NOW

The U.K. economy has been sluggish over recent years, growing just 0.1% in the first quarter of 2023, as rising interest rates, stubbornly high inflation and a chaotic so-called “mini-budget” have weighed heavily.

Hinduja said that the softness was largely “outside of the control” of the government, citing events including Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, and insisted that Conservative leader Sunak was on the “right track” to raise the outlook.

“There’s steps which the Prime Minister has taken,” he said, referring to Sunak’s five-point economic plan. That includes plans to halve inflation, grow the economy, reduce debt, cut NHS waiting lists, and curb immigration.

“He’s going on the right track. He himself is a financial person and he is taking all the steps, but he has many challenges. It’s not an easy task for him,” he said.

The incumbent Tory party is currently seen around 17 points behind the opposition Labour Party in the polls as public sentiment has shifted following a 13-year stronghold. The next general election is scheduled to be held no later than Jan. 28, 2025.

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