ED attaches over Rs 119 cr assets in lottery scam case

The Enforcement Directorate on Monday said it has attached assets worth more than Rs 119 crore in connection with its money laundering probe into an alleged lottery scam that defrauded the Sikkim government.

It said a provisional order, for attachment of 88 plots and 61 flats in Tamil Nadu's Coimbatore district, has been issued under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) against lottery baron Santiago Martin and his associates.

The total value of the attached properties is Rs 119.6 crore, the ED said in a statement.

A criminal case was registered against Martin and his company Future Gaming Solutions Pvt Ltd (now Future Gaming and Hotel Services Pvt Ltd and formerly Martin Lottery Agencies Ltd) by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) on the basis of a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) FIR and charge sheet, the ED said.

The federal probe agency said Martin and others hatched "a criminal conspiracy to violate the provisions of the Lottery Regulation Act, 1998 to obtain wrongful gains by cheating the Sikkim government".

Martin has operations in Sikkim, Tamil Nadu and West Bengal.

It alleged Martin's company and government officials obtained illegal gains "by way of non-remittance of sale proceeds to the public account of the Sikkim government".

They sold Sikkim state lotteries in Kerala too, the ED charged.

"Martin and his associates made illegal gains to the extent of Rs 910.3 crore on account of inflating the prize winning tickets claim for the period between April, 2009 to August, 2010.

"Martin invested this illegal money into purchase of immovable properties in the name of 40 companies, which were used for laundering the proceeds of crime," the ED alleged.

The agency has attached assets worth Rs 138.5 crore in this case in the past.