Dubious company designed prize structures in bid to evade tax, claims ED

IANS, Kolkata, Nov 18, 2024 : Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Monday claimed that the dubious lottery entity Future Gaming and Hotel Services Private Limited designed the prize structure in a manner which helped the entity evade taxes to the maximum possible extent.

According to a statement issued by ED, 90 per cent of the business of the company was in lottery tickets with a face value of Rs 6 against which most of the prizes were below Rs 10,000 which was non-taxable.

“No proper record is maintained by the company regarding prize winners, sold and unsold tickets. Lottery schemes were designed by the company in such a way that substantial profit goes to the company and the organising state gets a very small portion of the revenue,” the ED statement read.

The central agency officials conducted search operations at 22 premises scattered over various states including Tamil Nadu, West Bengal, Karnataka, Uttar Pradesh, Meghalaya and Punjab under the provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), 2002 in connection with the investigation against the entity and its owner Santiago Martin. Four printing presses where lottery tickets were printed were also covered under search operation.

“The search has resulted in recovery and seizure of unexplained cash amounting to Rs 12.41 crore, various digital devices and incriminating documents. Further freezing of bank FDR of Rs 6.42 crore has also been done during the search operation. Records of huge investments in immovable properties at Coimbatore, Chennai, Mumbai, Dubai and London have also been found. They have made huge investments in the share market also,” the ED statement claimed.

The ED initiated the investigation on the basis of FIR registered by Meghalaya Police on the complaint by the Director, Meghalaya State Lottery and Kerala Police FIRs taken over by CBI.

“In the previous investigation in the matter at ED, Kochi, it was found that Martin Santiago and his company had acquired proceeds of crime of around Rs 920 crore in the lottery business, out of which properties of Rs 622 crore have been attached and prosecution complaint has been filed, trial on which is in progress,” the ED statement said.