New Delhi: The Comptroller and Audit General of India (CAG) flagged serious irregularities by marketing agents, including Future Gaming and Hotel Services owned by lottery king Santiago Martin, in a 2017 report submitted to Parliament.
According to the Economic Times, Future Gaming and Hotel Services, one of the biggest buyers of electoral bonds worth Rs 1,368 crore, was highlighted in recent data released by the Election Commission of India (ECI).
The decision to audit was made by the Union home ministry in 2015 following complaints of corruption and violations in lotteries, with Martin being a major player.
“The marketing agents (MA) have cornered 98.60% of sale proceeds of lotteries while the state could receive a meagre 1.40% of sale proceeds, during the audit period 2010-2016,” the newspaper reported, citing the CAG report said.
In its report titled ‘Performance Audit on Sikkim State Lotteries’, the CAG noted, “The award of marketing contract of the state’s lotteries to various lottery MAs was characterised by lack of transparency, frequent extensions of contract without competitive bidding and considerable delay in finalisation of tenders that led to huge loss of revenue to the state. The operations of lottery business were fully controlled and conducted by the private operators called MA.”
Besides Sikkim, Martin operated in Punjab, Manipur, Meghalaya, Nagaland and was involved in lottery scams in Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Jharkhand, the business daily reported citing officials familiar with his dealings.
The home ministry issued directions to state governments to oversee lottery marketing arrangements and “ensure that the persons, firms involved in selling, distribution, printing of lotteries do not violate any provision of the Act”.
Martin’s lottery empire is estimated to be worth Rs 40,000 crore, and he is involved in various other industries such as real estate, media, construction, software, and pharma.
Interestingly, Future Gaming and Hotel Services emerged as the biggest buyer of electoral bonds. The company spent Rs 1,368 crore on them between October 2020 and January 2024, according to Project Electoral Bond, an investigative collaboration project involving three news organisations – Newslaundry, Scroll, The News Minute – and several independent journalists.
The Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) received Rs 656.5 crore through electoral bonds between April 2019 and November 2023, the report said, citing details filed by the party to the Supreme Court in a sealed cover.
Out of this, Rs 509 crore was donated by Martin, according to DMK.
It remains unclear to whom the company donated the rest of the electoral bonds.
In addition, the investigative report found that several companies which donated electoral bonds to political parties faced raids several times over the last few years. And Future Gaming and Hotel Services was one of them.
“Martin has been under the scanner of agencies since 2007. In 2011, the CBI registered 30 cases against him and his close aides,” the report said.
“In 2019, the Enforcement Directorate launched a money laundering investigation against Martin. As part of this, the agency attached the company’s assets from April 2022 to May 2023. Between April and December 2022, Future Gaming bought electoral bonds worth Rs 290 crore,” it added.
“Raids were also conducted on properties owned by Martin and his son-in-law, Aadhav Arjun, in September 2022 and April 2023. In this period, Future Gaming bought electoral bonds worth Rs 303 crore,” it said.
