ED searches 'lottery king' Santiago Martin's premises across India

Chennai: As part of a money laundering investigation, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) carried out raids in multiple states against Chennai-based Santiago Martin, also known as ‘lottery king’. Martin is the single biggest donor to political parties with more than Rs 1,300 crore in electoral bonds, PTI reported, citing officials.

The ED made a move following the Madras High Court granting permission to proceed against Martin. Also, Tamil Nadu Police had decided to close the primary FIR against him and a few others since a lower court accepted its prayer.

A clutch of police FIRs have been taken into cognisance by the ED to initiate the latest action against Martin and his business network for lottery "fraud" and "illegal" sale of lottery.

Sources said at least 20 premises linked to Martin, his son-in-law Aadhav Arjun, and associates in Chennai and Coimbatore in Tamil Nadu, Faridabad in Haryana, Ludhiana in Punjab and Kolkata in West Bengal were being searched as part of a "comprehensive" action against his business empire.

Last year, ED attached assets worth about Rs 457 crore in a case against Martin linked to an alleged loss of over Rs 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 Martin, known as 'lottery king' in Tamil Nadu, since 2019.

Martin and his company Future Gaming made headlines recently after Election Commission data suggested that the company was the largest purchaser of electoral bonds worth more than Rs 1,300 crore between 2019 and 2024, meant for donations to political parties.