New Delhi: At least 77.5 per cent of the Rs 656.5 crore that the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) obtained in electoral bonds between the monetary years 2019-2020 and 2023-2024 was donated by Santiago Martin’s Future Gaming and Hotel Services, based on knowledge launched by the Election Commission of India (ECI) Sunday. The firm donated Rs 509 crore to the DMK on this interval.
The knowledge uploaded by the EC Sunday included particulars furnished by political events on electoral bonds that had been submitted in a sealed cowl to the Supreme Court. Only a couple of events such because the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) and the DMK have revealed the names of their donors in these disclosures.
The knowledge present {that a} massive chunk of what the DMK obtained in donations got here within the monetary yr 2021-2022, beginning in April when the Tamil Nadu meeting polls had been held. The celebration would journey to energy within the state after the votes had been counted the next month. In that monetary yr, Future Games donated Rs 249 crore value of bonds and Megha Infrastructure donated Rs 40 crore value of bonds, amongst different events.
After the ECI launched the primary tranche of electoral bonds knowledge Thursday, “Lottery King” Martin, the proprietor of Future Gaming and Hotel Services’, was within the information for his agency having bought bonds value over Rs 1,368 crore, the very best by any entity total. Political events, on the time, alleged a direct hyperlink between the continued cash laundering case by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in opposition to the agency and the massive quantity of bonds bought by it.
ThePrint earlier reported that the corporate was a lottery agency probed and charge-sheeted by the ED in September 2023.
“The largest electoral bond donor, at almost Rs 1,400 crore, is Future Gaming & Hotels. It turns out that the son of the owner of Future is a member of the BJP, and that the owner himself met Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman in April 2023, despite facing many CBI cases. How many more fraudulent companies on the list have close BJP links?” wrote Congress common secretary answerable for communications Jairam Ramesh on X Saturday earlier than the DMK electoral bonds’ knowledge was launched.
Yesterday, after a fast first evaluation of the information on the #ElectoralBondScam, 4 corrupt techniques of the BJP emerged:
1. Chanda Do, Dhandha Lo
2. Hafta Vasuli
3. Theka Lo, Rishvat Do
4. Farzi Company – Dakait SangniThese 4 patterns of corruption which have emerged… https://t.co/ISTK4Eah48
— Jairam Ramesh (@Jairam_Ramesh) March 16, 2024
While the vast majority of the donations by the corporate (Rs 859 crore) stay unaccounted for, it seems {that a} important chunk of bonds bought by the corporate was donated to the Congress’s southern ally.
Future Gaming and Hotel Services donated Rs 60 crore to the DMK in 2020-21, Rs 249 crore in 2021-22, Rs 160 crore in 2022-23, and Rs 40 crore in 2023 until the time of submission of information.
Another important donor of the DMK is Megha Engineering and Infrastructure, the second largest purchaser of electoral bonds total. The firm has donated bonds value Rs 105 crore to the southern celebration since 2019. Opposition political events had additionally pointed fingers on the BJP when information of the corporate buying bonds value over Rs 960 crore first got here out. The firm, accused of misappropriating funds from a Telangana irrigation venture, additionally confronted raids from the Income Tax division in October 2019.
In a letter to the ECI, the DMK, whereas declaring particulars of its electoral bond donors, wrote, “The format of application for issue of electoral bonds, which is annexure II of the above scheme, 2018, discloses that the details of the donors under the scheme have to be kept confidential by the authorised bank. The scheme also does not require the details of the donor to be furnished to the donee. Under these circumstances, the donors did not strictly adhere to the requirement of furnishing their details whenever they handed over the electoral bonds to us.”
Then it added, “Be that as it may, following the directions of Hon’ble Supreme Court, we contacted our donors, and we were able to collect the details from them (sic).”
Among the opposite regional events in Tamil Nadu that disclosed the names of donors, the AIADMK, between 2 April 2019 and 4 April 2019, obtained Rs 6.05 crore, together with round Rs 5 crore obtained from the IPL cricket workforce Chennai Super Kings.
While importing the information, the ECI, in a press notice, mentioned, “Political parties had filed data on electoral bonds in sealed cover as directed by the Hon’ble Supreme Court’s interim order dated April 12, 2019, in the said WP NO.880 of 2017. Data so received from political parties was deposited in the Hon’ble Supreme Court without opening sealed covers (sic).”
The ECI additionally mentioned that in pursuance of the Supreme Court’s order, dated 15 March, 2024, the court docket has returned bodily copies, together with a digitised report of the information, uploaded Sunday.
(Edited by Madhurita Goswami)
Also learn: Electoral bonds: Lottery agency charged by ED & infra firm raided by IT dept emerge as prime 2 donors
