New Delhi, March 17 (Reuters) – Santiago Martin, dubbed as India’s “lottery king” and embroiled in accusations of fraud and money laundering, has surfaced alongside his company as the nation’s leading political donor within an opaque funding framework that has only recently come under partial scrutiny.
Martin’s company, Future Gaming and Hotel Services, disbursed 13.68 billion Indian rupees ($165 million) between 2019 and 2024—exceeding the contributions of any other donor by 40%—under the now-defunct funding system. This system permitted anonymous and unrestricted donations to political parties, according to data disclosed on Thursday.
The information, disclosed by the election commission under the directives of India’s Supreme Court, reveals that Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) emerged as the largest recipient overall. However, the data does not specify the beneficiary party of any particular donor.
Future Gaming declined to respond to Reuters’ inquiries regarding its contributions. Despite the court’s ruling deeming the “electoral bonds” system unconstitutional, there have been no insinuations of impropriety regarding the donations.
The revelation of the obsolete funding mechanism sheds light on the checkered past of Martin, 59, who ascended from selling lottery tickets as a teenager to establishing a vast empire spanning lotteries to real estate.
A flamboyant and charismatic persona, Martin has cultivated relationships across the political spectrum, often lavishing politicians with expensive gifts as his business conglomerate flourished, as per local media reports.
Over the years, tax authorities, law enforcement agencies, and investigative bodies have conducted raids on his business establishments and seized assets in connection with various cases against him. Last year, his appeals against property seizures by the Enforcement Directorate, India’s financial crime agency, were dismissed.
In September, the directorate lodged a prosecution complaint against Future Gaming and 15 other companies affiliated with Martin under the money-laundering statute. The agency alleged that they had defrauded state governments involved in lottery issuance by withholding proceeds from lottery sales, among other violations.
Martin and his company have refuted any wrongdoing. His conglomerate, Martin Group, asserted in October that they abide by the law and highlighted Martin’s status as India’s top taxpayer in the financial year ending March 2003.
From Labourer to Influential Figure
Martin’s journey traces back to his youth when he toiled as a laborer in Myanmar to support his family. He returned to India in the late 1980s and embarked on his entrepreneurial pursuits in the southern city of Coimbatore, as outlined by his nonprofit Martin Charitable Trust.
The two-digit lottery he initiated gained widespread popularity in the region, capturing the imaginations of the impoverished populace yearning for overnight wealth. Martin expanded his operations to other states and eventually to neighboring Bhutan and Nepal, where he monopolized the distribution of lottery tickets.
In 2011, Martin produced a film worth 200 million rupees ($2.4 million), adapted from Russian writer Maxim Gorky’s novel “Mother,” with the screenplay penned by the chief minister of Tamil Nadu state.
However, Martin’s fortunes took a downturn that same year when the ruling party in Tamil Nadu lost elections. Subsequently, he and his associates faced a barrage of fraud allegations, including accusations of siphoning off over 45 billion rupees in unpaid lottery ticket proceeds from the northeastern state of Sikkim.
Martin endured incarceration for eight months alongside several politicians on charges ranging from land-grabbing to illegal lottery sales, although he has yet to be convicted in any of the cases, some of which remain pending. He was released on bail in 2012.
As his legal battles unfolded, Martin’s family assumed a prominent role in the political arena. His wife shared a platform with Modi during his victorious prime ministerial campaign in 2014, while his eldest son, Charles, joined Modi’s party a year later.
($1 = 82.8830 Indian rupees)
