Did Santiago Martin, hogging the headlines now after emerging as the biggest electoral bond donor, milk the people of Kerala of a whopping Rs 50,000 crore in just four-and-a-half years?
The late Congress leader Oommen Chandy insisted it was so at an election rally in Kerala almost twelve years ago -- in May 2012. The LDF Government's decision to come out with an ordinance banning lotteries of other states in that year instead of four-and-a-half years earlier was cited by Chandy as proof of their alleged nexus with the culprits then.
The ex-Chief Minister might have been guilty of indulging in political grandstanding, but Lottery King Martin did mint a fortune with his two-digit lotteries in God's Own Country going even by the allegations levelled by India's premier investigating agency.
The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in a charge sheet filed in 2014 stated that of the Sikkim lottery tickets worth Rs 4,752 crore sold in Kerala by Martin and his men during the 2008-2010 period, only Rs 142.93 crore was paid to the Sikkim Government.
The accusation translates to Martin being the kingpin of a Rs 4500-crore scam pulled off in a three-year period. The case is still pending and it might be years before the hearing begins but underscores the ease with which money flowed into the his coffers from lottery-mad Kerala.
Cut to now and you can wonder how much of the Rs 1368 crore Martin paid to political parties through electoral bonds was from here.
Winners who never purchased a lottery ticket from Kerala!
Interestingly, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) charge sheet also notes that of the 202 winners in these lottery draws, only three were from Kerala.
One hundred fifty of the winners were from Maharashtra, 14 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. None of these 199 winners had purchased a lottery ticket in Kerala!
The CBI stated that the reward money was given to 72 persons, including Maharashtra government employees in the RTO, BMC, Irrigation Department, Maharashtra Pradhan Mantri Grameen Sadak Yojana, Deputy Commissioners of Land and Estate Department, Survey and Town Planning departments, with the assistance of 15 middlemen. This, the agency said, was how several government officials used Martin's lotteries to turn black money into white.
It must be mentioned though that no such government officials have been named on paper either by the CBI or the Enforcement Directorate (ED), which registered a case based on the CBI charge sheet to trace the money-laundering angle.
Many companies, just two addresses
There are as many as 53 persons accused in that case.
Of this, a majority are firms under Martin and his associates.
The data released by Election Commission shows how Martin purchased electoral bonds despite his properties coming regularly under provisional attachment by ED.
On March 3, 2016, ED attached Martin and his companies valued at Rs 122 crore.
On February 9, 2017, ED attached companies and properties of N Jayamurugan worth Rs 16 crore.
On July 22, 2019, ED against attached companies and properties of Martin worth Rs 119.59 crores.
On April 5, 2022, ED attached assets of his companies worth Rs 409 crores.
On July 2, 2022, again ED attached properties of Martin and his associates worth Rs 173.48 crores.
Most of the companies that are named in the list of offenders by ED in the money laundering case are under the names of his family members and close associates in Coimbatore and Chennai.
All the firms based in Coimbatore have a common address -- No 54, Mettupalayam Road, GN Mill Post, Coimbatore.
These firms are -- Future Gaming Solutions India (P) Limited, MJ Associates, Martin Towership Developers Private Limited, Martin Builders Private Limited, Charles Modular Homes Private Limited, Martin Reality Private Limited, Charles Housing Private Limited, Charles Promotes Private Limited, Daison Construction India Private Limited, Martin Dwellers Private Limited, Martin Hi-Tech Construction Private Limited, Martin Homes Private Limited, Martin Plaza Private Limited, Martin Real Estate Private Limited, Martin Realcon Private Limited.
The companies that operate from Chennai are by run his close aide Jayamurghan.
These firms are also in the ED list and have a common address of -- No 99, Canal Bank Raod, CIT Nagar, Nandanam, Chennai.
The companies are Anith Estates, Anitha Infrastructure and Property Developers, Jay Gee Hitech Infra Ventures Pvt Limited, Nandini Property and Developers Pvt Limited, NHM Enterprises Pvt Limited, NJM Estates and Foundation Pvt Limited, Pavithra Property Developers Pvt Limited, SNJ Infrastructure and Property Developers Pvt Limited, SNJ Promoters and Property Developers.
The most recent development in the PMLA case was on November 16, 2023, when ED arraigned 10 more Coimbatore-based firms owned by aides of Martin.
The companies include Martin Happy Homes, Dominant Tower and Traders Private Limited, Charles Property Developers Private Limited, Dominant Homes Private Limited, Dominant Dwellers and Dealers Private Limited, Dominant Shelters and Agencies Private Limited, and Smart City Homes LLP. Affluent Towers LLP, Hrithvi Real Estate LLP. Charming Skycrapers and Agency Private Limited.
When Martin's Rs 2-crore donation made a splash
Kerala was also where Martin, who according to his website began "his career as a laborer in the Yangon city of Myanmar earning a meager salary to feed his family", made headlines 17 years ago for a political donation.
Even back then in 2007, Martin was a wheeler-dealer who liked to be close to people in the corridors of power.
It was the news of his Rs 2 crore donation to the ruling CPM's mouthpiece Deshabhimani that created a major flutter. The Left party went on to return the sum after the then CM VS Achutanandan attacked his party for the decision.
Achutanandan subsequently went on to lead the charge against Martin in the state.
