Top Electoral Bond Buyer, 'Lottery King' Santiago Martin Donated Rs 509 Cr To This Party
Santiago Martin's firm, Future Gaming and Hotel Services Private Limited topped the list of donors furnished by the Election Commission of India.
The Election Commission of India released the fresh data on electoral bonds on Sunday after it submitted the report in seal covers to the Supreme Court which asked the poll body to make the details public. Complying with the apex court's interim order dated April 12, 2019m the political parties had filed data on the electoral bonds to the ECI, said the poll body.
According to the data, the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party received the highest amount of Rs 6,986.5 crore since the bonds were introduced in 2018, followed by Trinamool Congress (Rs 1,397 crore), Congress (Rs 1,334 crore), BRS (Rs 1,322 crore).
MK Stalin-led Dravida Munnetra Kazagham was the sixth big recipient receiving ₹656.5 crore. DMK is among those few political parties that have disclosed the identities of their donors.
Of the total proceeds received by DMK, 77 per cent were purchased by Santiago Martin's lottery-selling firm, Future Gaming company, which is under the scanner of the Enforcement Directorate.
According to the ECI data, anonymous donation by Martin's company to DMK accounted for Rs 509 crore.
Other donations were made to the party by Megha Engineering (Rs 105 crore), India Cements (₹14 crore), and Sun TV (₹100 crore).
Who Is Santiago Martin?
As a teenager, Martin, renowned as the "Lottery King, sold lottery tickets and worked as a teenage labourer in Myanmar to support his family, as per an NDTV report. Later he came back to India in the late 1980s and began his his business career in Coimbatore, the report added.
As his two-digit lottery gained popularity in the region, he expanded to other states reaching Bhutan and Nepal where he established a monopoly on the distribution of the tickets.
Over the years, his business premises have been searched by the investigation agencies, and his properties seized in connection with the case, although Martin has denied any wrongdoing.
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