Rs 457 crore worth assets of Lottery King Martin frozen by ED

CHENNAI: A week after carrying out raids at residential and office premises of 'Lottery King' Santiago Martin in Chennai and Coimbatore, the enforcement directorate on Monday said that assets – including movable and immovable- worth about Rs 457 crore have been frozen under the prevention of Money Laundering Act.

ED's investigation was linked to a case against Martin ofalleged loss of over Rs 900 crore to the Sikkim government by fraudulent saleof the state lottery in Kerala. Apart from residences of Martin and his family members in Coimbatore and Chennai, and the official premises of a company called 'Future Gaming Solutions India Private Limited' was also raided in Coimbatore on May 11 and 12.

Future Gaming Solutions India Pvt Ltd is the master distributor of Sikkim lotteries. The money laundering case stems from a CBI charge sheet filed against Martin and others for alleged offences relating to sale of lotteries of the Sikkim government in Kerala.

"Martin and his associate companies and entities made unlawful gains with a corresponding loss to the government of Sikkim to the extent of Rs 910 crore on account of inflating the prize winning tickets claim for the period from 01.04.2009 to 31.08.2010,” the ED said.

Several investments of the group concerns (of Martin) like fixed deposits and mutual funds worth Rs 157.7 crore have been frozen under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) and immovable property documents worth Rs 299.16 crore were seized, it said. Thus, the ED said, properties totally worth about Rs 457 crore were unearthed as a result of search operations and they have been seized/freezed.