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Madras HC allows ED to revive case against lottery baron Martin
While CCB conducted probe following the seizure of ₹7.2 crore in unaccounted cash from Martin’s residence, the court found it “suspicious” for the same agency to file a closure report in 2022
The Madras high court on Monday allowed the Enforcement Directorate (ED) to proceed with its probe against lottery baron Santiago Martin and three others as it set aside a lower court order, accepting the closure report filed by Chennai’s Crime Branch in the predicate case pertaining to seizure of unaccounted ₹7.2 crore from his Chennai house.
Martin, commonly known by the moniker “Lottery King”, made headlines earlier this year after his company, Future Gaming and Hotel Services Private Limited, emerged as the highest donor of now-scrapped electoral bonds. He had donated bonds worth ₹1,368 crore between 2019 and 2024, according to data released by the ECI.
“The facts established and the legal position considered made us to arrive at an irresistible conclusion that the Closure Report filed by the CCB dated November 14, 2022 accepted by the Judicial Magistrate-I, Alandur stands set aside,” a bench of justices S M Subramaniam and V Sivagnanam said, allowing a petition filed by ED seeking to set aside the closure report filed by the investigating agency of Tamil Nadu.
The bench held that it was a clear case of cheating by amassing money by sale of illegally printed lottery tickets. “…prima facie materials are available for both the predicate offence and the offence under PMLA (Prevention of Money Laundering Act),” it said, noting that an attempt was made by the state agency to scuttle the PMLA proceedings by closing the proceedings in the predicate offence “in a suspicious manner and on extraneous considerations…”
While the CCB had registered the offence and conducted probe following the seizure of ₹7.2 crore in unaccounted cash from Martin’s residence in Chennai, the court found it “suspicious and doubtful” for the same agency to file a closure report in 2022.
The objectives of the PMLA to protect the economic interest of the country are clear, the bench said. “Both the state and central investigating agencies need to work in tandem to ensure smooth functioning of PMLA,” it said, adding that any misuse or abuse of the law will fracture the bones of PMLA, thereby rendering it wholly ineffective.
It directed the state investigating agency and ED to proceed with the case in tandem.
Martin, his wife and two others accused in the case had moved the Supreme Court last year against the PMLA proceedings by ED. The top court closed the PMLA proceedings but gave ED liberty to take legal steps against the accused in the future, including recalling the top court’s order.
