ED launches fresh raids against 'lottery king' Santiago Martin
The Hindu
Enforcement Directorate conducts fresh searches against 'lottery king' Santiago Martin, largest donor to political parties, in money laundering probe.
The Enforcement Directorate on Thursday (November 14, 2024) conducted fresh searches against Chennai-based 'lottery king' Santiago Martin, the single biggest donor to political parties with over ₹1,300 crore in electoral bonds, as part of a money laundering investigation, official sources said.
The action comes after the Madras High Court recently allowed the ED to proceed against Mr. Martin as the Tamil Nadu Police had decided to close the predicate or primary FIR against him and a few others and a lower court accepted this police plea.
Sources said multiple premises linked to Mr. Martin were being searched on Thursday in Chennai and some other places.
The federal agency last year attached assets worth about ₹457 crore in a case against Mr. Martin linked to an alleged loss of over ₹900 crore to the Sikkim government by fraudulent sale of the state lottery in Kerala.
Future Gaming Solutions India Pvt. Ltd. is the master distributor of Sikkim lotteries and the ED has been investigating Mr. Martin, known as the 'lottery king' in Tamil Nadu, since 2019.
Mr. Martin recently made news after it came to light through Election Commission data that his company (Future Gaming) was the largest purchaser of electoral bonds worth more than ₹1,300 crore, between 2019 and 2024, meant for donations to political parties.
The Madras High Court last month allowed the ED case against Mr. Martin and his linked persons to go on as it set aside a lower court order which had accepted a closure report filed by the Chennai Police crime branch in a case related to the seizure of "unaccounted" ₹7.2 crore from his Chennai home.
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