Billionaire brothers in High Court row over £16bn fortune
ONE of Britain’s wealthiest families is embroiled in a High Court row over its £16 billion fortune.
Srichand Hinduja, 84, is suing his brothers Gopichand, 80, Prakash, 75 and Ashok, 69, over a July 2014 letter, signed by all four of them, which states that “assets held in any single brother’s name belong to all four”.
He is seeking a declaration that the letter has no “legal effect, whether as a will, power of attorney, declaration of trust or other binding document”.
A High Court judgment delivered yesterday disclosed that the family members are also embroiled in litigation in Switzerland over the control of Hinduja Bank, “an asset in Srichand’s sole name”, as well as private proceedings in Jersey.
Mrs Justice Falk said Srichand Hinduja, who she described as “the current patriarch of the family”, had taken legal action against his three brothers to “determine the validity and effect” of the letter.
The Hinduja brothers, who are cochairmen of the India-based conglomerate the Hinduja Group, which lists banking, oil and property among its global ventures, came second only to inventor Sir James Dyson in this year’s Sunday Times Rich List.
The judge added that Srichand had said in a 2016 witness statement that “the July letter does not reflect his wishes and that the family’s assets should be separated”.
She appointed Srichand’s daughter
Vinoo to conduct the proceedings on her father’s behalf amid claims he is suffering from a form of dementia.
The decision was made despite objections from the defendants’ lawyers who claimed his daughter had “her own separate financial interest in pursuing the proceedings”.
Hinduja Group, founded in Mumbai in 1914, is headquartered in London and employs 150,000 people globally.