Electoral bonds data: Future Gaming, Bond Buyer No. 1, was DMK’s top donor at Rs 509 crore

According to the data, the party received a total of Rs 656.5 crore via poll bonds from April 19, 2019 till November 14, 2023. This included Rs 509 crore from Future Gaming, run by Santiago Martin, between April 2019 and April 2023.

The DMK received its first tranche of electoral bonds (worth Rs 60 crore) from Future Gaming in 2020-21. In 2021-22, the amount increased to Rs 249 crore.

The Tamil Nadu Assembly elections were held in April 2021, when the DMK ousted the then AIADMK government.

In 2022-23, the DMK received another Rs 160 crore via poll bonds from Future Gaming. The remaining amount was donated on April 1, 2023.

According to the overall year-wise data, the DMK received contributions totalling Rs 45.50 crore in 2019-2020, coinciding with the May 2019 general elections. The major donors included India Cements at Rs 10 crore, Lakshmi Machine Works (LMW) at Rs 1.50 crore, RAMCO Cements at Rs 5 crore, Mega Infrastructure at Rs 20 crore, Apollo at Rs 1 crore, Triveni at Rs 5 crore, Birla at Rs 1 crore, and IRB at Rs 2 crore.

DMK’s top donors

In 2020-2021, the DMK saw contributions totaling Rs 80 crore. Future Gaming donated Rs 60 crore, while Mega chipped in with Rs 20 crore.

While the State Assembly elections were held in early 2021, the 2021-2022 financial year saw a big jump in the poll bond contributions received by the DMK, adding up to Rs 302 crore. Future Gaming alone contributed Rs 249 crore, with Mega giving Rs 40 crore, Sun TV Network Rs 10 crore, India Cements Rs 4 crore, and Triveni Rs 3 crore.

The local body polls held in February 2022 were no less significant. The flow of funds via poll bonds during this period, notably from entities like Future Gaming, sustained the momentum.

Among the major donors, Future Gaming has been closely associated with the DMK for many years. Its owner, Santiago Martin, was targeted by late Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa in 2011 for his close ties with the DMK’s first family.

Martin’s son-in-law, Aadhav Arjuna, used to be a close aide of Chief Minister M K Stalin’s son-in-law, Sabareesan, and was seen as an “insider” of DMK’s political and strategic operations in the 2021 Assembly polls, a period when Future Gaming contributed Rs 249 crore to the party.

Arjuna, a basketball player-cum-gym trainer, would take part in the seat-sharing talks with the DMK’s smaller allies. However, he failed to get a DMK ticket in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls, and joined the VCK, a DMK ally, last month.

Triveni, another DMK donor, is engaged in infrastructure and engineering projects, with origins in Salem, and also has stakes in mining operations in Odisha. LMW, also based in Tamil Nadu, is engaged in machine tools manufacturing.

In 2022-2023, the poll bond contributions to the DMK added up to Rs 185 crore, including Rs 160 crore from Future Gaming, and Rs 25 crore from Mega. Future Gaming contributed an additional Rs 40 crore in 2023.

Future Gaming has been flagged by the Ministry of Home Affairs, the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) and several central agencies as a company engaging in fraudulent lottery business. It has been under the scanner of the MHA since 2015.

As reported by The Indian Express on Saturday, in September 2023, the MHA wrote to eight lottery-running states about the alleged “frauds” and “irregularities” linked to Martin’s companies and told them to stay away. The letter noted that it had received complaints with “serious allegations” against Martin and his lottery firms.

Following this, Future Gaming went on an electoral bond buying spree, purchasing Rs 190 crore worth of bonds the very next month.

In early 2019, the Enforcement Directorate began a money laundering probe against Future Gaming. By July that year, it had attached assets worth over Rs 250 crore. On April 2, 2022, the ED attached movable assets worth Rs 409.92 crore in the case. On April 7, five days after the attachment of these assets, Future Gaming bought Rs 100 crore in electoral bonds.

◾ 3 of top 5 donors bought electoral bonds with ED and I-T knocking on their door
◾ Meet electoral bonds donor number 1: Santiago Martin, labourer turned Lottery King
◾ BJP encashed Rs 1,700 crore before LS 2019, redeemed Rs 202 crore before 2024
◾ Who paid the parties: Infrastructure, construction, mining, pharma companies dominate donor list
◾ SC issues notice to SBI over disclosing unique alphanumeric code of electoral bonds;