Electoral Bonds: The Election Commission of India has issued the list of individuals that bought the electoral bonds to make political donations. Notably, the data was released days after the State Bank of India furnished the details after the Supreme Court’s orders. The biggest donation was made by Future Gaming and Hotel Services Private Limited. The owner of the company is Santiago Martin also known as “Lottery King”.
Electoral Bonds: Who is Santiago Martin?
According to the website of Santiago Martin’s charitable trust he started his career as a labourer in Myanmar’s Yangon. In the year 1988, Martin returned to India and started a lottery business in Tamil Nadu and after some time he expanded the lottery business in other southern states – Karnataka and Kerala before moving to northeast.
In northeast, Martin started his business by handling state government’s lottery scheme. Then he moved to other countries like Nepal and Bhutan. Later the ‘Lottery King’ diversified and invested in other businesses such as construction, real estate, textiles and hospitality.
“He is also the President of All India Federation of Lottery Trade and Allied Industries – an organization engaged for uplifting and infusing credibility to the lottery trade in India. Under his stewardship, his enterprise, Future Gaming Solutions India Pvt. Ltd. became a member of the prestigious World Lottery Association and is expanding into the field of Online Gaming & Casinos and Sports Betting,” the website claims.
In 2019, Future Gaming and Hotel Services Private Limited donated approx. Rs 1,368 between 2019-2014.
The Indian central agency Enforcement Directorate (ED) has been keeping an eye and investigating the company for alleged violation of PMLA law since 2019, when it started the big donations. The agency also conducted raids in Coimbatore and Chennai in May 2023 as part of its probe.
Notably, the agency’s probe is based on a CBI charge sheet that claimed that the company sold lotteries from the government of Sikkim in Kerala, HT reported citing officials.
The ED and CBI accused Santiago Martin’s companies caused a loss of ₹910 crore to Sikkim by inflating the value of prize-winning tickets claimed between April 2009 and August 2010.
Electoral Bonds: Other Donors
Megha Engineering and Infrastructure Ltd, a prominent company based in Hyderabad, generously donated a whopping ₹966 crore. Presently, the company is making significant strides in multiple infrastructure projects. As per data from the election commission, there are other companies – including Spicejet, IndiGo, Grasim Industries, and numerous others – who have also decided to invest in electoral bonds.
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