Kerala: Bond revelation places lottery baron Santiago Martin back in spotlight

KOCHI: Santiago Martin is back in the spotlight, this time in connection with the controversy over electoral bonds. The lottery baron first courted disrepute when he sold Sikkim lottery tickets worth nearly Rs 4,750 crore in Kerala, from which he caused the government of the Northeastern state a loss of over Rs 4,500 crore, during the 2008-10 period. Yet, the scam did not land him behind bars, despite lengthy investigations by the CBI, and later the ED.

On Thursday, in further evidence of his political clout, a company linked to Martin, Future Gaming and Hotel Services, was revealed to have bought electoral bonds — which the Supreme Court (SC) struck down as unconstitutional — worth Rs 1,368 crore. Following an SC rap, the data on the bonds was released by SBI and uploaded on the website of the Election Commission of India.

Martin, 62, who hails from Coimbatore, ventured into the lottery business at a young age and bagged contracts from several state lottery departments, including Sikkim and Nagaland, and even Bhutan. His venture into Kerala was, however, shortlived as the then Chief Minister, V S Achuthanandan, turned against him despite his close links with political parties.