Chennai: It has been nearly 20 years because the lottery was banned in Tamil Nadu. But the largest donor to Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) is a lottery firm. That is the curious case of Future Gaming and Lodge Companies and its proprietor, Santiago Martin.
From his beginnings as a laborer in Myanmar to proudly owning one of many nation’s most profitable lottery corporations and ultimately turning into a detailed affiliate of late DMK patriarch M. Karunanidhi and his son and present Prime Minister MK Stalin, 63-year-old Martin, Popularly referred to as ‘Lottery King’, has come a great distance.
In accordance with information launched by the Election Fee of India on March 21, Martin’s Future Gaming was the most important purchaser of electoral bonds, donating Rs 1,368 crore, primarily to the Trinamool Congress and the DMK. The previous obtained Rs 542 crore from Future Gaming, whereas the latter obtained Rs 509 crore.
Considerably, Future Gaming accounted for 77.5 % of DMK’s political donations between 2019 and 2023, adopted by building agency Megha Engineering and Infrastructure Ltd, which donated Rs 105 crore.
In accordance with a former DMK spokesperson who didn’t wish to be named, Martin is not only a businessman for the get together.
“He has been near the DMK chief’s first household and it’s greater than enterprise that has introduced them collectively,” the previous spokesperson stated.
However Martin’s political connections usually are not simply restricted to the DMK. His spouse Leema Rose is a staunch supporter of TR Pachamuthu, also called TR Paarivendhar, founder-chairman of Tamil Nadu’s SRM Group of instructional establishments and the present Member of Parliament for Perambalur. Pachamuthu received within the 2019 Lok Sabha elections as a DMK candidate however is at present a member of the Bharatiya Janata Occasion (BJP).
In consequence, Leema is campaigning for Ok. Annamalai, the get together’s Tamil Nadu chief, in Coimbatore, residence of the Martin household.
ThePrint tried to succeed in Martin and Leema Rose via cellphone calls and textual content messages for his or her feedback. This report will probably be up to date if and when a response is acquired.
Additionally learn: In Tamil Nadu, the BJP is attempting to dispel the notion of the ‘Brahmin get together’ because it has no candidate from the group
From employee to ‘Lottery King’
In accordance with the web site of the Martin Basis – the household’s charity primarily concerned in healthcare, training and flood aid – Martin was simply 13 when he arrange his personal lottery store in Coimbatore.
At the moment his enterprise is ticking over a mean annual progress of 109 %, in accordance with the web site. In India, lottery is authorized in 13 states: Nagaland, West Bengal, Madhya Pradesh, Punjab, Mizoram, Kerala, Maharashtra, Goa, Manipur, Sikkim, Arunachal Pradesh, Meghalaya and Assam.
Martin has his enterprise in at the least half of those. Whereas lottery is the mainstay of the Martin Group of Corporations, the corporate has expanded into actual property, building, visible media, leisure, textiles, healthcare and training.
Martin and DMK
In accordance with DMK leaders ThePrint spoke to, Martin’s affiliation with the get together dates again to the early 2000s, with some even crediting then Chief Minister J. Jayalalithaa’s 2003 resolution to ban the lottery in Tamil Nadu to this rising proximity attribute.
In 2011, Martin grew to become a filmmaker and produced a Tamil movie referred to as Ilaignan. Based mostly on the 1907 e-book by Russian novelist Maxim Gorky, The mom The script of the movie, with Pa. Vijay within the lead position, was written by the then Chief Minister M. Karunanidhi.
“Even when he produced the movie, the lottery ban within the state had nonetheless not been lifted. That was the connection between him and the get together,” stated the DMK chief quoted earlier.
This proximity to one among Tamil Nadu’s two main political events value him. In August 2011 – two months after Jayalalithaa took over as chief minister – Martin was amongst quite a lot of individuals arrested for land grabbing that allegedly occurred below the earlier DMK regime.
The Madras Excessive Court docket later quashed the case. The DMK leaders referred to as this “an act of political revenge”.
“It’s the similar cause she obtained Martin arrested too,” a DMK chief near Karunanidhi advised ThePrint.
Martin additionally linked with the DMK in one other approach: his son-in-law Aadhav Arjuna, a nationwide basketball participant, labored for the get together when he labored at Prashant Kishor’s election technique agency Indian Political Motion Committee (I-PAC) throughout the 2021 elections. Parliamentary elections in Tamil Nadu, onwards moved to DMK’s political technique agency, PEN.
In February, Aadhav joined Dalit group and DMK ally Viduthalai Chiruthaigal Katchi (VCK). On March 9, lower than a month after he was inducted into the get together as deputy secretary common, the Enforcement Directorate carried out raids on buildings linked to him in reference to an investigation into sand mining.
The EC’s electoral bond information – made public on the insistence of the Supreme Court docket – now exhibits how Martin’s Future Gaming has stored the DMK’s coffers afloat.
However in 2019, Tamil journal Junior Vikatan obtained into authorized hassle for releasing a report on how Stalin had managed to ‘negotiate’ a Rs 500 crore donation take care of Martin and his group of corporations.
An incensed Stalin filed a civil go well with in opposition to the writer Ananda Vikatan searching for Rs 1.1 crore in damages. That lawsuit is pending within the Madras Excessive Court docket.
The DMK has not but commented on the EC information. However get together sources have denied that any concessions have been made to Martin, mentioning that the state ban on the lottery has not been lifted.
Martin’s donations and connections to political events
This is not the primary time Martin’s donations to political events have made headlines.
The group’s contribution of Rs 2 crore to the Communist Occasion of India (Marxist) between 2006 and 2011 sparked a row in Kerala.
These donations got here at a time when the Left Democratic Entrance authorities below CPI(M) chief and Chief Minister VS Achuthanandan was taking motion in opposition to lotteries from outdoors the state – together with these offered by Martin’s personal agency. Because the row escalated, the then CM ordered the get together to return the donation.
Martin additionally has connections with different political events. In accordance with EC information, Future Gaming and Lodge Companies’ donation to the TMC is the very best contribution to any political get together.
Considerably, Future Gaming is the only real distributor of ‘Expensive Lottery’, a paper lottery organized by the states of Sikkim and Nagaland. The lottery is fashionable in West Bengal.
Martin’s connections with the BJP run simply as deep. Not solely is his spouse Leema Rose now campaigning for Annamalai, however his businessman son Jose Charles Martin has been a celebration member since 2015, though he doesn’t maintain distinguished positions.
In accordance with EC information, Future Gaming donated Rs 100 crore to the get together – the third highest contribution after the TMC and the DMK.
Dishonest and cash laundering: instances in opposition to Martin
Martin has additionally been the topic of a number of investigations over time. In accordance with a number of regulation enforcement sources, Martin is dealing with at the least 30 instances filed by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and the ED, with the latter seizing properties price Rs 800 crore between 2016 and 2024 as a part of his analysis.
The ED paperwork, accessed by ThePrint, present that a number of corporations are registered on the similar addresses in Coimbatore and Chennai. These weren’t solely lottery corporations, but additionally engaged in different companies starting from actual property to training.
In 2010, the CBI booked Martin for the primary time for dishonest the Sikkim authorities of Rs 4,500 crore via ‘Expensive Lottery’. In accordance with the company’s 2014 expense sheet, whereas Martin’s firm offered lottery tickets price Rs 4,752 crore in Kerala, solely Rs 142.93 crore went to the Sikkim authorities.
In 2019, the ED additionally filed a separate case on this regard.
Final month, Martin approached a courtroom in Kochi searching for a keep of the ED case in opposition to him till the CBI case was disposed of. Nevertheless, the particular courtroom rejected his request.
(Edited by Uttara Ramaswamy)
Additionally learn: The Dravidian mannequin versus Hindutva is the subsequent massive battle. The remainder of India can be taught from Tamil Nadu
