Cash seized by the Enforcement Directorate in connection with investigation against Santiago Martin and his entity Future Gaming and Hotel Services Private Limited.
Credit: PTI Photo
Chennai: Sleuths from the Enforcement Directorate (ED) recovered Rs 12.41 crore in cash and several incriminating documents from premises related to lottery baron Santiago Martin and Future Gaming and Hotel Services owned by him across the country during the recent raids.
Martin, his son Tyson and son-in-law Aadhav Arjuna, deputy general secretary of Dalit party Viduthalai Chiruthaigal Katchi (VCK), came under the radar of the ED last week. The agency conducted search operations at 22 premises in Tamil Nadu, West Bengal, Karnataka, Uttar Pradesh, Meghalaya and Punjab in connection with a case of money laundering.
“During the search operations, various incriminating documents, digital devices, cash of Rs 12.41 crore were recovered and seized, while Fixed Deposit Receipts (FDR) of Rs 6.42 crore has also been frozen,” the agency said.
Martin shot into limelight earlier this year when his firm topped the list of companies that bought electoral bonds, declared illegal by the Supreme Court in February. Martin’s largest donation went to the DMK, while the BJP also secured a significant portion of the bonds.
Martin’s company purchased electoral bonds worth Rs 1,368 crore between April 2019 and January 2024, as per details uploaded on the website of the Election Commission of India (ECI).
The recent searches were in connection with an ongoing money laundering case against the lottery baron. The development comes just weeks after the Madras High Court, in a significant verdict, ruled that the ED can always take recourse to legal remedies available to it for prosecuting the accused even if other agencies close the case against them.
The High Court had set aside an order pronounced by Alandur Judicial Magistrate in November 2022 after accepting a closure report filed by the Chennai City Central Crime Branch (CCB) police in connection with a case filed against Martin and his wife M Leema Rose.
The case was related to the seizure of Rs 7.20 crore, suspected to be proceeds from the sale of lottery tickets that are banned in Tamil Nadu, from one of the five accused in March 2012. In 2022, the CCB filed a closure report in the case. The High Court had in October, while setting aside the lower court order, also noted that the CCB’s closure report was “palpably wrong.”
In 2016, 2018, and 2023, the 59-year-old businessman was raided by Central agencies and attached properties worth Rs 457 crore under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act in connection with a case linked to the alleged loss of over Rs 900 crore to the Sikkim government.
His donations in the form of electoral bonds to the BJP apparently increased after the raids. One of his group companies was also awarded the contract to run a private train from Coimbatore to Shridi in Maharashtra in 2022.
Future Gaming, which still operates in 13 states where sale of lottery tickets is legal, over the years, diversified into real estate, hospitality, satellite television channel, and software.