Lottery king Santiago Martin in ED clutches, agency sleuths search his premises

New Delhi: The Enforcement Directorate (ED) carried out searches at the residential premises of Santiago Martin, the person infamous for running lottery businesses in Tamil Nadu & North-Eastern states.

The ED sleuths carried out searches at his residence for financial irregularities and alleged money laundering. This is not the first time that the self-styled ‘lottery king’ came under the watch of law enforcement agencies for his dubious dealings.

According to reports, searches were also carried out at the premises of Martin’s son and son-in-law Arjun. The agency is yet to make any announcement about recoveries from their custody.

The ED searches at Martin’s son-in-law Arjun’s premises draws attention because of latter’s close links with Sabareesan, the man charting the electoral strategy of DMK for 2024 elections. Sabareesan is the son-in-law of Tamil Nadu chief minister MK Stalin.

In 2019, the ED had attached multiple properties & assets of the lottery tycoon Santiago Martin under Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA). A total of 61 flats, 80-85 plots worth over Rs 119 crore were attached by the agency for lottery scam. Martin & his associates had bought several properties in name of various companies and were found to be using it for laundering the proceeds of crime.