Inside Britain’s richest family that owns two London landmarks and had major fallout

Russell FalconMay 18, 2023

THIS is the inside story of Britain’s richest family and their great internal feud.

The Hinduja family has an estimated net worth of £28.4 billion and runs a business empire employing 150,000 people.

Srichand Hinduja, who passed away earlier this week, is the patriarch of Britain's richest family — Srichand Hinduja, who passed away earlier this week, is the patriarch of Britain’s richest familyCredit: Rex

Hindujas have an estimated net worth of £28.4 billionCredit: Alamy

They own two landmark properties in London, including the Old War Office in WhitehallCredit: Alamy

The Hinduja patriarch, Srichand, who passed away earlier this week, heads Sunday Times Rich List with his brother Gopichand for the fourth time in 2022.

Srichand is the chairman of the family business group, which owns many companies across his native India, including banking, commercial vehicle sales and chemicals.

In the United Kingdom, where the family mainly resides, they own a number of high-value properties, including a large 18th Century home near Buckingham Palace and the historic Old War Office building in Whitehall.

They also acquired parts from the defunct British Leyland car giant in 1987.

Srichand and his brothers Gopichand, Prakash and Ashok built the company after their late father Parmanand founded it.

Paramanand started a spice, carpet and tea business in 1914 in an area of British India, now Pakistan.

Their first international branch opened in Iran in 1919, before the company was forced to move to London due to the Iranian Revolution of 1979.

Srichand and Gopichand co-chair the group from London, while Prakash manages the company’s operations in Switzerland and Ashok is responsible for the India branch.

The family mainly makes money exporting oil and telecommunications equipment as well as a business dubbing Hindi movies into Persian in Iran.

In Switzerland, Pakash owns a £20 million superyacht, named Param Jamuna IV after his parents, and a private jet Dassault Falcon 2000, owned by Ashok Leyland. owned by Hinduja manufacture.

However, in the years before Srichand’s death, he became embroiled in a bitter dispute with his loved ones.

A rift in the family, over ownership of a Swiss bank, left his medical needs “out of reach”, according to Guard.

The brothers took the case to the High Court to oppose Srichand’s claim for sole title to Hinduja Bank.

The case revolved around a letter in which, according to three other brothers, Srichand said that any property belonging to one of them belonged to all of them.

However, the brothers are said to have agreed to terms to close the case last year when Srichand’s health declined.

Meanwhile, the family has been embroiled in a number of widely reported controversies.

Last year, they were accused of “playing the Scrooge game” after a company in which they own a majority of shares refused to raise wages for workers in line with inflation.

They are also linked to the so-called ‘Hinduja Incident’ in 2001, which saw the resignations of then-Northern Ireland Minister Peter Mandelson and then-European Minister Keith Vaz.

Both were cleared of inappropriate behavior in relation to calls to Home Office ministers regarding Srichand’s application for British citizenship.

In 1992, Srichand’s 22-year-old son, Dharam, died after setting himself on fire in what the coroner described as a “suicide pact” with an Anglo-Indian woman he had secretly married. independence.