Future Gaming Company Under ED Radar Donates Rs 1,368 Crore As Electoral Bon (image- facebook/Future Gaming and Hotel Services Pvt Ltd )
The Supreme Court in its recent verdict has asked the poll body to reveal the details of the electoral bond received by each party. The Election Commission of India thereby has published the details of the electoral bonds. The data submitted revealed shocking information regarding the funding companies.
As per the data submitted to ECI by the State Bank of India on March 12, Coimbatore-based Future Gaming emerged as the biggest donor of electoral bonds. The data reveals that Future Gaming and Hotel Services Private Ltd bought Rs 1,368 crore in electoral bonds between April 2019 and January 2024.
Formerly known as Martin Lotter Agencies, claims to be a colossus in India’s lottery industry. The company headed by Martin Santiago is also known as ‘Lottery King’.
Fact-checker Muhammed Zubair in his finding has found that the son of Martin Santiago, Jose Charles Martin, joined BJP in 2015. The ED has provisionally attached movable assets worth Rs 411 crore in September 2023. The company has been facing a probe by the Enforcement Directorate and the Income Tax Department for allegedly getting illegal monetary gains by violating provisions of the Lottery Act.
As per the mint report, the company claims to have paid an amount of Rs 6,000 crores in GST to the West Bengal government in 2017 alone. The company claims that its growth is to be the result of “relentless innovation and market research” and “pioneering move to broadcast lottery draws live on television, winning trust and enhancing transparency in a business often shrouded in scepticism”.
Santiago Martin, the owner of the company has been under the radar of investigative agencies since 2011 for financial fraud and money laundering. There have been several raids conducted by ED since 2015. But despite all the raids conducted on Martin’s immovable assets, he was able to widen his empire by investing in various sectors which include healthcare, education, hospitality and real estate with the help of his benami and relatives and his ‘loyal’ staff.
As per the data provided by the Election Commission, the company proceeded to purchase electoral bonds after the ED raids. His first purchase was listed on October 21, 2019.
Of the total number of electoral bonds worth Rs 12,008 crore sold between 2017-2018 and 2022-2023, the BJP has nearly received 55%, that is an amount of Rs 6,564 crore, of the total number of electoral bonds sold from 2017-2018 to 2022-2023.
