The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Thursday, December 23, provisionally attached ‘Lottery King’ Santiago Martin's immovable assets worth Rs 19.59 crore in connection with a lottery scam. It had earlier attached properties worth Rs 258 crore of the businessman. With the present attachment, the total attachment in the case has reached Rs 277.59 crore.
According to an ED official, the attached properties consist of various immovable properties in the form of vacant lands located in Tamil Nadu. The chargesheet that had been filed by the CBI had alleged that Martin had cheated the Sikkim government to the tune of Rs 4,500 crore by not depositing the face value of the lottery tickets in the exchequer from 2005. Through this, it alleged that he caused a huge loss to the government through the sale of Sikkim lotteries in Kerala. The money was allegedly distributed among 72 persons, including Sikkim Government officials, with the help of 15 middlemen.
During the course of the investigation, the federal probe agency found that the partners of Ms MJ Associates, Santiago Martin and N Jayamurugan, made unlawful gains with a corresponding loss to the Sikkim government to the tune of over Rs 900 crore on account of inflating the prize-winning tickets claim for the period between 2009 and 2010, which was nothing but proceeds of crime.
In a statement, the ED said that Santiago Martin, his companies and others invested parts of the proceeds of crime generated from lottery business in immovable properties through more than 40 companies, which were incorporated in the name of their family members and other associates to project the same as untainted properties. Santiago Martin, his companies Ms. Future Gaming and Hotel Services Pvt Ltd, Martin Builders Pvt Ltd, Daison Land and Development Pvt Ltd acquired immovable properties worth Rs 19.59 crore from the loans and advances that were given by Santiago Martin and his family members.
The ED said it is further probing the matter. The Anti-Corruption Bureau Kochi and the federal probe agency CBI had earlier filed a chargesheet against the accused under sections 120-B, 420 read with sections 4(d), 4(f), 7 (3), 9 of Lotteries (Regulation) Act, and 3 (5), 4 (5) of lotteries regulation rules, 2010. Later, the ED also initiated the money laundering probe against the accused.