The Indian Supreme Court has temporarily halted the trial proceedings in a money laundering case against lottery tycoon Santiago Martin under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).
According to G2G, Martin, recently in the spotlight for being the largest purchaser of electoral bonds, primarily supporting West Bengal’s ruling TMC and Tamil Nadu’s ruling DMK, sought the stay until trial proceedings in another case against him are complete.
The DMK party governs the southern state of Tamil Nadu where Martin started his business.
The case is related to allegations of Martin’s involvement in a lottery scam connected to the distribution of Sikkim government lottery tickets in Kerala.
The lottery businessman is accused by the Kochi office of the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), of causing a loss of over INR900 crore ($107.9 million) to the Sikkim government.
Martin issued a plea to halt the PMLA trial, which was dismissed by a Special PMLA Court last month, prompting him to appeal to the Supreme Court.
