(MENAFN- Live Mint) The Enforcement Directorate (ED) seized ₹8.8 crore from the corporate office of Chennai-based 'lottery king' Santiago Martin, officials said on Friday.
Martin was the single biggest donor to Political partie , with over ₹1,300 crore in now-scrapped electoral bonds, news agency PTI reported.
Officials said the searches were carried out in several states in connection with a money laundering case involving the 'lottery king'.
Also Read | ED raids 'lottery king' Santiago Martin, searches 20 locations in Chennai
Officials told PTI that at least 20 premises linked to Martin, his son-in-law Aadhav Arjun and associates in Chennai and Coimbatore in Tamil Nadu, Faridabad in Haryana, Ludhiana in Punjab and Kolkata in West Bengal were searched as part of a "comprehensive" action against his business empire.
The Enforcement Directorate's move came after the Madras High Court allowed the financial probe agency to proceed against Martin as the Tamil Nadu Police had decided to close the predicate or primary FIR against him and a few others. The lower court had accepted this police plea.
Also Read | DMK received 37% of donations by lottery king Santiago Martin's Future Gaming
A clutch of police FIRs were taken into cognisance by the ED to initiate the latest action against Martin and his business network for lottery "fraud" and "illegal" sale of lottery. The agency searched him earlier too.
Last year, the federal agency attached assets worth about ₹457 crore in a case against Martin linked to an alleged loss of over ₹900 crore to the Sikkim government by fraudulent sale of the state lottery in Kerala.
Future Gaming Solutions India Pvt. Ltd. is the master distributor of Sikkim lotteries and the ED has been investigating Martin, known as 'lottery king' in Tamil Nadu, since 2019.
Also Read | Electoral Bonds: All about Santiago Martin of Future Gaming and Hotel Services
Martin recently made news after it came to light through Election Commission data that his company (Future Gaming) was the largest purchaser of now-scrapped electoral bonds worth more than ₹1,300 crore, between 2019 and 2024, meant for donations to political parties.
The Madras High Court last month allowed the ED case against Martin and his linked people to go on as it set aside a lower court order which had accepted a closure report filed by the Chennai Police crime branch in a case related to the seizure of "unaccounted" ₹7.2 crore from his Chennai home.
Also Read | Electoral Bonds: All about Santiago Martin of Future Gaming and Hotel Services
His other companies include Martin Builders Pvt. Ltd. and Daison Land and Development Pvt. Ltd.
The ED had said earlier that these firms "acquired" immovable properties worth ₹19.59 crore from the loans and advances given by Martin and his family members.
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