‘Lottery King’ Probe: ED Seizes Rs 9 Crore In Kolkata Raids

Kolkata: The Enforcement Directorate (ED) seized around Rs 9 crore from the premises of a businessman in connection with a money-laundering probe linked to ‘Lottery King’ Santiago Martin.

ED, however, didn’t revealed the name of the businessman.

The raids, which started on Thursday and were still continuing, are part of legal action ordered by the Madras High Court, which allowed ED to proceed against Martin.

Tamil Nadu had closed the criminal case against him and a trial court accepted the closure report.

Santiago and his entities are facing multiple FIRs and complaints for lottery fraud, sale of illegal lotteries, etc, with ED conducting searches at 20 locations in Chennai, Coimbatore, Faridabad, Ludhiana and Kolkata.

It may be recalled that Santiago is the single biggest donor to political parties — over Rs 1,300 crore through electoral bonds.

ED has been probing Future Gaming Solutions over last five years.

In 2023, ED attached assets worth Rs 457 crore of Santiago in a money-laundering in a case in which the Sikkim government suffered a Rs 900-crore loss through fraudulent sale of lottery tickets in Kerala.