'Lottery King' Santiago Martin.
Credit: Martin Charitable Trust
Thiruvananthapuram: Though the CPM is also part of the legal fight against the electoral bonds, the revelation that Santiago Martin tops the tally of electoral bond purchasers may not go down well for the party's image in Kerala. This is because the disclosure could rake up the alleged nexus of the CPM in the state with the 'lottery king'.
The CPM had faced criticisms over accepting donations of Rs 2 crore from Santiago Martin, that too, at a time when the CPM government led by V S Achuthanandan (from 2006 to 2011) was taking stern actions against the sale of other-state lotteries in Kerala. Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan's counsel appearing for Martin in the court had also triggered a row.
The Achuthanandan government had initiated stringent action against the sale of other-state lotteries in Kerala by Martin's firms. Amidst this, senior CPM leader E P Jayarajan, who was the then general manager of party mouthpiece 'Deshabhimani', had taken Rs 2 crore from Santiago – four bonds of Rs 50,000 each. Though he initially tried to justify this, the party decided to return the money after the controversy caused much embarrassment to it.
Another row surrounding Martin in Kerala pertained to Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan's former counsel and senior lawyer M K Damodaran appearing for Santiago Martin. The case related to a petition at the Kerala high court in 2016 against the Enforcement Directorate's move to attach his assets in connection with the lottery scam. The Congress then ignited a controversy by alleging nexus between the CPM and 'lottery king'.
Even though over 20 cases were registered against Santiago over alleged illegal sale of lottery in Kerala, the CBI, which probed those cases had written them off.
The Congress has also faced allegations of favouring Martin. During the term of Congress government led by Oommen Chandy from 2011 to 2016, then Opposition leader V S Achuthanandan had alleged that the Congress government was going soft on Martin and allowing him to resume business in Kerala by obtaining court orders in his favour.
The appearance of Congress's former spokesperson Abhishek Manu Singhvi for Martin in the Kerala High Court in 2010 also complicates matters for the party.