THE billionaire Hinduja family is to launch a High Court action against the BBC tomorrow after it allegedly mounted a sting operation to catch the family selling “military” vehicles to Sudan.

Undercover reporters persuaded the Hindujas to agree to supply 20 Stallion 4x4 trucks worth $750,000 (about £424,000) by posing as “security consultants” working for an unspecified aid agency in Sudan.

Ahead of any broadcast, the BBC has accused the Hindujas of breaking international sanctions that bar British citizens from entering into agreements to ship “military specification” vehicles to Sudan.

The Sudanese government has been accused of massacring thousands of people in the Darfur region. Any British citizen found breaking the law faces a six-month jail term.

However, the Hinduja Group claims the vehicles were not armour-plated and were therefore not of a military specification. It says it was told the trucks were for humanitarian use and it was unfairly duped.

Tomorrow, lawyers acting for the brothers, who are worth an estimated £2.1 billion, will attempt to stop BBC’s Newsnight programme, which intends to screen the investigation to coincide with the opening of the G8 summit on Wednesday.

Any suggestion that high- profile British citizens have contemplated unethical trading in Africa would embarrass the prime minister. Peter Mandelson, a member of Blair’s inner circle, was forced to resign as Northern Ireland secretary after being accused of securing British passports for the Hindujas, who sponsored the Millennium Dome.

Yesterday a close friend of the Hindujas accused the BBC of wasting taxpayers’ money on the investigation. “The family were tricked and have broken no laws,” he said. “They have been unfairly targeted and the BBC has set out to try to entrap them. They will now use the full power of the law to stop the programme being broadcast and to receive compensation for their time.”

The Hindujas’ association with Sudan began earlier this year when Ashok Leyland, an Indian company owned by the family, entered into negotiations to build trucks and buses in the country.

After the initial agreement was signed, the company issued a press statement in India headed “Ashok Leyland to export defence vehicles to Sudan”. In the event, the agreement lapsed and no vehicles were constructed. The company now claims that the press release was incorrect.

However, Ashok Leyland was approached in May by three men who sought to buy trucks to assemble in Sudan.

One of them claimed to be an American priest from New York, another said he was an Irish-based “security consultant” and the third a Manchester-based “procurement consultant” working for an unnamed aid agency. They met an executive of Ashok Leyland who agreed to the deal at a meeting in a five-star hotel in Kensington, west London.

The men then insisted on speaking to a member of the Hinduja family. They were put in contact with Dheeraj Hinduja, the son of G P Hinduja, president of the family company. He confirmed that he was aware of the humanitarian deal and was happy for it to proceed.

In mid-June the Indian arm of the company is understood to have written to the phoney consultants confirming the proposed deal. The letter stated that the Sudanese trucks would be painted white as they were for humanitarian purposes.

Last week, when contacted by a senior producer from Newsnight, the Hinduja family realised that it had been duped. Family members are now convinced the men were undercover reporters.

Shahrokh Mireskandari of Dean & Dean, the solicitors representing the Hindujas, said: “I find it disgusting that the Hindujas were tricked by someone impersonating a priest. (They) explained at all times that the trucks were only fit for humanitarian purposes.

“The BBC appears to have an agenda and we think they are distorting the situation for their own purposes.”

A friend added: “It has come as a shock. Can such behaviour be justified? The BBC could find themselves tied up for years in the courts as the Hindujas have endless resources.”

The Hinduja brothers, who are based in London, are the country’s 13th richest citizens, according to the latest Sunday Times Rich List. They initially made their fortune in trading between India and Iran, but now boast a wealth of business activities ranging from banks to oil and pharmaceuticals. Before the Mandelson furore, they were renowned for throwing lavish parties and were regular figures on London’s society circuit. They have recently been cleared in India of corruption charges dating back to the 1980s.

The BBC sting will once again bring unwanted attention at a time when the secretive family was planning to repair the damage to its reputation.

Over the past three years the BBC has lost 28 libel cases according to files released under the Freedom of Information Act. The corporation’s biggest payout was the £500,000 damages and £297,161 awarded to Oryx Natural Resources after falsely claiming that one of its directors was involved with Al-Qaeda.

Yesterday the BBC said: “We don’t comment on any work which may or may not be in the pipeline.”

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