The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Monday attached assets consisting of 61 flats, 82 open plots and six plots with buildings located in Coimbatore district worth Rs 119.6 crore of lottery kingpin Santiago Martin and his associates.
The ED had initiated investigation under the provisions of Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) against Santiago Martin and his company Future Gaming Solutions (P) Ltd (presently, Future Gaming and Hotel Services (P) Ltd.) and formerly Martin Lottery Agencies Ltd on the basis of charge sheet filed by CBI, ACB, Cochin for offences relating to criminal conspiracy, cheating and for violation of provisions of Lotteries (Regulation) Act,1998 and Rules of Lotteries (Regulation) Rules, 2010.
"Santiago Martin and others entered into a criminal conspiracy among them to violate the provisions of Lottery Regulation Act, 1998 and to obtain wrongful gain by cheating Sikkim Government. In furtherance of the criminal conspiracy, an agreement contrary to the provisions of Lottery Regulations Act was dishonestly entered between Santiago Martin and officials of Sikkim Government by which Martin Lottery Agency Ltd could practically run the Sikkim State Lottery and avoid the remittance of face value of the lottery tickets to the Government," the agency said.
This led to wrongful gain to Santiago by way of non-remittance of sale proceeds to the public account of State of Sikkim, it said.
Investigation under PMLA revealed that Santiago Martin and his associates made illegal gain to the extent of Rs 910.3 crore on account of inflating the prize winning tickets claim for the period from April 1, 2009 to August 31, 2010.
Martin invested this illegally generated money from his lottery business into the purchase of immovable properties in the name of 40 companies which were used for laundering the proceeds of crime.
Earlier, the ED had issued two Provisional Attachment Orders attaching assets worth Rs 138.5 crore in this case.