NEW DELHI: Enforcement Directorate has recovered Rs 8.8 crore from the Chennai office of Santiago Martin, better known as lottery king, during searches on Thursday in a money laundering case against him and other associates for illegal gains of more than Rs 900 crore made in distribution and sale of lotteries.
The searches were carried out at the premises of Martin and his close family members in Chennai and Coimbatore and at other associates in Faridabad, Ludhiana and Kolkata to look into the ‘proceeds of crime’ generated from illegal distribution and sale of lotteries in several states.
Martin and his Future Gaming and Hotel Services (P) Ltd are accused of committing fraud in distribution of Sikkim state lotteries. ED had earlier carried out searches on Martin and associates in May last year when it had seized assets worth over Rs 457 crore, including Rs 158 crore in fixed deposits and mutual funds, and Rs 299 crore worth of properties.
The probe against Martin, who is India’s biggest political donor having contributed Rs 1,368 crore through electoral bonds to all parties including DMK, had come to a halt after Tamil Nadu Police withdrew its FIR against him, which was the predicate offence based on which ED had registered its money laundering probe. Supreme Court had later ruled that though ED is free to challenge the withdrawal of the FIR, in absence of a predicate offence, the PMLA probe cannot be continued against the accused.
ED then moved Madras high court, which on October 28 ruled that the withdrawal of the corruption case, “predicate offence” in ED’s parlance, was illegal, and validated ED’s case under PMLA while also asking state authorities to revive the corruption case.