Madras HC allows ED to reopen case against lottery baron Santiago Martin

The Madras High Court has set aside the order of the Alandur High Court while accepting the closure report filed by the Central Crime Branch (CCB) police in the case registered against Santiago Martin, his wife Lima Rose and three others. On Monday, October 28, the court allowed the criminal review petition filed by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) following the adoption of the closure report by the magistrate’s court.

The case related to the seizure of an amount of Rs 7.20 crore from the residence of M. Nagarajan at Thillai Ganga Nagar in Nanganallur on March 12, 2012. A day later, an amount of Rs 50 lakh was seized from the residence of his associate G. Moorthy. Further investigation revealed that he and lottery baron Martin were involved in the sale of banned lottery tickets in Chennai.

On the other hand, the suspects claimed that the money seized was the advance amount given to Moorthy by Martin’s wife for the purchase of a house worth Rs 12.30 crore at Anna Nagar in Chennai. The accused also claimed that he had declared this transaction in his tax returns. As per their explanation, CCB decided to close the case and the Magistrate also accepted the same and closed the case.

A Division Bench of Justices SM Subramaniam and V Sivagangai allowed the criminal review petition filed by the ED in connection with acceptance of the closure report by the magistrate’s court. The Madras High Court division bench also allowed the ED and CCB to continue prosecution under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), 2002.

ARL Sundaresan, Additional Solicitor General representing ED informed the court that no accused would be able to escape punishment for serious economic offence. He also said that the ED was not able to investigate the case under the PMLA Act, 2002 as the investigating officer attached to the CCB had decided to close the case booked in connection with the predicate offence. He also said that the ED had every right to approach the High Court to find out whether the CCB had grounds to close the case and whether the magistrate had thought carefully before accepting the closure report. He said there was enough material to make one doubt that the suspects had executed a fake property sale deed dated earlier to explain the possession of Rs 7.20 crore in cash.