Santiago Martin, a businessman from Coimbatore known as the ‘lottery king’, is being investigated by India’s Enforcement Directorate (ED) for possible illegal activities related to his lottery business. His company reportedly makes a huge amount of money, about Rs 15,000 crore every year!
The ED has been looking into Martin since 2014 and has already taken action by freezing assets worth over Rs 1,000 crore. This includes properties worth Rs 622 crore in Kochi and Rs 409 crore in Kolkata that might be linked to illegal earnings.
What’s Accused Against Martin?
Martin and his company have multiple legal complaints against them. The first complaint was filed by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in 2014, and two more were filed by Kolkata Police in 2022. In 2024, another complaint from the Meghalaya government claimed that Martin’s lottery sales resulted in a loss of Rs 1,500 crore.
Recently, when the ED searched Martin’s properties, they found unaccounted cash of Rs 12 crore and fixed deposits worth Rs 6.4 crore, linked to properties in cities like Coimbatore, Chennai, Mumbai, and even overseas in Dubai and London.
Ties to Political Donations
The investigation also revealed that Martin’s company, Future Gaming & Hotel Services Pvt Ltd, has been involved in giving money to political parties through ‘electoral bonds’. From 2019 to 2024, his company donated Rs 1,368 crore to different parties, including Rs 542 crore to the Trinamool Congress (TMC), while other parties like DMK, BJP, YSRCP, and Congress also received large donations.
Moreover, Martin has created over 350 companies to buy properties using money they gained from illegal activities. He is accused of giving away winning lottery tickets to property sellers instead of selling them to the public as the law states. The ED found bundles of unused winning lottery tickets that violated the rules.
Even though Martin’s company makes a lot of money, they only show a small profit on paper. Most of the sales come from selling lottery tickets from Sikkim, with West Bengal representing more than 90% of those sales.
An important complaint from Mary Sonty Marak, the Director of Meghalaya State Lottery, claims that Martin and his associate, Subbayan Nagarajan, tried to intimidate lottery sellers in Meghalaya, causing an alleged loss of Rs 1,500 crore to the state.
The Enforcement Directorate is actively continuing its investigation into Santiago Martin, indicating that more updates could come in their efforts against illegal lottery operations and political funding in India.
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