The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Thursday took major action against Chennai’s ‘lottery king’ Santiago Martin. New raids were carried out on their facilities in many states across the country. Martin is the largest donor to political parties with electoral bonds worth more than Rs 1,300 crore. This action has been taken against them as part of the investigation into the money laundering case.
Actually, ED carried out this raid after recently obtaining permission from the Madras High Court to take action against Martin. Because the Tamil Nadu police had decided to close the primary FIR against him and some others and the lower court had accepted this statement of the police.
According to PTI, sources said at least 20 premises belonging to Martin, his son-in-law Aadhav Arjun and their associates were searched in Chennai and Coimbatore in Tamil Nadu, Faridabad in Haryana, Ludhiana in Punjab and Kolkata in West Bengal. And comprehensive action is being taken against his business empire.
The ED has taken cognizance of multiple police FIRs to initiate the latest action against Martin and his business network for lottery fraud and illegal sale of lottery tickets. The agency had also searched for him previously. Last year, the federal agency had targeted Martin in a case of alleged loss of over Rs 900 million to the Sikkim government from fraudulent sales of state lotteries in Kerala and had seized his assets worth around Rs 457 million. rupees.
Future Gaming Solutions India Private Limited is the main distributor of the Sikkim Lottery and the ED has been investigating Martin, known as the ‘Lottery King’ in Tamil Nadu, since 2019. Recently, Martin shot to fame when he revealed through Election Commission data that his company (Future Gaming) was the largest investor in electoral bonds worth over Rs 1,300 crore that would be donated to political parties between 2019 and 2024. He was the buyer.
Last month, the Madras High Court allowed the ED’s case against Martin and his associates to continue after quashing a trial court order that had seized the unaccounted 7.2 kg from his house in Chennai by the Chennai Police Crime Branch. The report submitted in the case related to seizure of crores of rupees was accepted.
His other companies include Martin Builders Pvt Ltd and Deson Land and Development Pvt Ltd. The ED had earlier said that these companies had acquired immovable properties worth Rs 19.59 crore from loans and advances given by Martin and members of his family.
