1 day Ago By Pradeep Thakur
NEW DELHI: After Tamil Nadu police's withdrawal of an FIR against lottery king Santiago Martin in an alleged corruption case, now Enforcement Directorate has hit a new hurdle with Kolkata police filing a closure report in two FIRs against Martin and his company citing "want of evidence". In the absence of a predicate offence (police FIR in corruption case), ED's PMLA probe may be closed as it had happened in Tamil Nadu. The probe in Tamil Nadu resumed only after the agency moved Madras high court, which, in a judgment in Oct last year, asked the state police to restore the FIR as there was enough evidence of corruption against Martin and his company Future Gaming & Hotel Services.
In the closure of two FIRs in Kolkata, sources said ED has moved the chief judicial magistrate's (CJM) court in Alipore and the court of additional CJM in Sealdah on the ground that the police have filed a closure report without completing the investigation. "Complete investigation was not done by Kolkata police and the information shared by ED under Section 66(2) of PMLA was also not adhered to," the agency said in its applications and urged the courts to quash the police's closure report. The agency has already attached assets worthRs 1,000 crore in the case.
ED has claimed that it has "shared information and evidence of fraud and money laundering with Kolkata police but they have not taken any action in the matter". During its investigation, the Kolkata unit of ED had attached alleged "proceeds of crime" worth Rs 409 crore linked to Martin and his company. Later, in Sept 2023, the agency filed a chargesheet against him in the special PMLA court in Kolkata.
The Kerala unit of ED had separately attached assets of over Rs 622 crore. ED's probe has found properties linked to Martin in Coimbatore, Chennai, Mumbai, Dubai and London, besides investments in share markets. Martin's Future Gaming & Hotel Services was the single largest contributor to political parties with Rs 1,368 crore donated through electoral bonds between 2019 and 2024.
Of theRs 1,592 crore received by TMC through bonds, Rs 542 crore came from Future Gaming. The lottery king contributed Rs 503 crore to DMK, out of the party's total bond income of Rs 632 crore. BJP (Rs 100 crore), YSRCP (Rs 154 crore) and Congress (Rs 50 crore) were among the other beneficiaries.
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