ED freezes assets worth Rs 457 Crore from lottery king Santiago Martin

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In an official statement today, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) revealed that search operations in residential and business premises of Santiago Martin & Others in Chennai concluded on 11 and 12 May under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002 (PMLA).

ED’s Investigation premises include Santiago Martin’s residence in Coimbatore along with premises of his family members in Chennai. Investigation was also done in the premise of Future Gaming Solutions which distributes lottery in Sikkim.

During search at various locations, ED found properties worth Rs. 457 Crore. In this, ED froze Rs. 157.7 Crore from Fixed Deposits and Mutual Funds along with seizing immovable property documents worth Rs. 299.16 Crore.

The investigation was carried out on the basis of a report by CBI under various sections of IPC, 1860. Martin also sold lotteries of Government of Sikkim in Kerala and made huge profits while the government of Sikkim faces a loss of Rs. 910 Crore by inflating ticket prices. Further investigation is under process.

Lottery king Santiago Martin is already facing heat nowadays from the ED regarding alleged money laundering in violation of PMLA. Last year too ED attached properties worth Rs 173.48 crore to Martin under the PMLA act.

While Martin’s son, Charles Martin, recently met with the Finance Minister as a representative of All India Federation of Lottery Trade & Allied Industries (AIFLTAI) to talk about potential Rs 1.3 lakh crore annual GST revenues and over five crore jobs in the country.

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