KOCHI: Santiago Martin is back in the spotlight, this time in connection with the controversy over electoral bonds. The lottery baron first courted disrepute when he sold Sikkim lottery tickets worth nearly Rs 4,750 crore in Kerala, from which he caused the government of the Northeastern state a loss of over Rs 4,500 crore, during the 2008-10 period. Yet, the scam did not land him behind bars, despite lengthy investigations by the CBI, and later the ED.
On Thursday, in further evidence of his political clout, a company linked to Martin, Future Gaming and Hotel Services, was revealed to have bought electoral bonds -- which the Supreme Court (SC) struck down as unconstitutional -- worth Rs 1,368 crore. Following an SC rap, the data on the bonds was released by SBI and uploaded on the website of the Election Commission of India.
Martin, 62, who hails from Coimbatore, ventured into the lottery business at a young age and bagged contracts from several state lottery departments, including Sikkim and Nagaland, and even Bhutan. His venture into Kerala was, however, shortlived as the then Chief Minister, V S Achuthanandan, turned against him despite his close links with political parties.
In 2010, his lottery sales came under the scanner of the state commercial tax department. Close on the heels, CBI registered 32 cases against Martin and his aides John Britto, John Kenedy, Jayamurughan, Sivaparakash, Selvaraj, and Sakthivel. Of these, 31 cases related to the sale of Sikkim lotteries and one was linked to the sale of Bhutan lottery.
In 2014, the CBI filed charge sheets against Martin and his aides in seven cases related to Sikkim lotteries, while closing 23 cases involving mostly vendors. The single case related to Bhutan lottery did not proceed as desired after the government of the Himalayan kingdom failed to release the data demanded by the agency.
The CBI investigation revealed that lottery tickets worth Rs 4,752 crore were sold in Kerala between 2008 and 2010, of which only Rs 142.93 crore was paid to the Sikkim government. The lottery scam, however, did not result in any loss to the Kerala state exchequer. Additionally, the charge sheet said that no fake tickets had been sold.
The agency found that of the 202 winners of lottery draws, only three were from Kerala. As many as 150 winners hailed from Maharashtra, while 14 were from West Bengal, 13 from Tamil Nadu, nine from Karnataka, three each from Gujarat, Jharkhand and Uttar Pradesh, and two each from Orissa and Andhra Pradesh. These winners had never purchased any lottery ticket from Kerala. According to the CBI, the reward money was given to 72 persons with the assistance of 15 middlemen after taking commission.
These 72 persons included Maharashtra government employees with the RTO, BMC, irrigation department, the state’s Pradhan Mantri Grameen Sadak Yojana, deputy commissioners of land and estate department, survey and town planning department, besides researchers and businessmen. Though CBI alleged hoarding of black money using the officials, no further investigation was held to trace these persons.
Based on the CBI charge sheet, the ED came into the picture by registering a money laundering case against Martin and his aides. It named 53 accused persons in the case, including Martin’s close aides, family members and his real-estate companies based in Coimbatore and Chennai. Between 2016 and 2023, the ED identified proceeds of crime worth `910.29 crore and carried out attachment of properties on six occasions. The trial in the case is pending before the PMLA court in Kochi.
