NEW DELHI: Future Gaming and Hotel Services Pvt Ltd, owned by ‘lottery king’ Santiago Martin who has been under probe by ED and CBI since 2019, contributed Rs 509 crore to DMK between 2019-20 and 2022-23.
This accounts for 83% of the Rs 611 crore received by Tamil Nadu’s ruling party via bonds in the corresponding period.
As per fresh details of electoral bonds released by the Election Commission on Sunday, Future Gaming, the biggest donor through EBs, deposited contributions for DMK in four tranches — purchasing bonds worth Rs 60 crore between Oct 23, 2020 and Oct 29, 2020, Rs 249 crore between April 5, 2021 and Jan 11, 2022, Rs 160 crore between April 11, 2022 and Oct 12, 2022 and worth Rs 40 crore on April 20, 2023.
DMK’s other major bond donors between 2019-20 and 2022-23 included Mega Infrastructure (Rs 105 crore), India Cements (Rs 14 crore), Sun TV Network (Rs10 crore), Triveni (Rs 8 crore) and RamcoCements (Rs 5 crore). In all, it received Rs 656.5 crore during this period.
DMK while submitting bond details to EC on 14.11.2023 stated that with the electoral bonds scheme providing for non-disclosure of donor details by the authorised bank, “donors did not strictly adhere to the requirements of furnishing their details when they handed over the bonds to us”.
“Following the directions of the Hon’ble Supreme Court, we contacted our donors and we were able to collect the details from them,” it said.
Other parties which disclosed their donors via bonds right up to the time of EC sought the relevant details in November 2023 on the directions of the Supreme Court, include JD(S) and Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party (MGP). JD(S) stated its total Rs 89.7 crore receipts through bonds between 2018-19 and 10.4.2023 came from Megha Engineering & Constructions Pvt Ltd (Rs 50 crore), Embassy Group (Rs 22 crore), JSW Steel (Rs 5 crore) and Infosys (Rs 1 crore), among others.
More parties were forthcoming while sharing details of donors via bonds in 2019, again on directions of SC. These include Samajwadi Party, AIADMK, NCP, AAP, RJD, JD(U), Goa Forward Party and Sikkim Democratic Front (SDF). AIADMK revealed that its total Rs 6.05 crore funding through bonds in 2019 came from IPL team owner Chennai Super Kings (Rs 5 crore), Lakshmi Machine Works (Rs 1 crore) and Gopal Srinivasan of TVS Capital Funds (Rs 5 lakh).
Interestingly, even as these parties declared donors via bonds route until 2018-19, some like SP and JD(U) did not disclose the sources of Rs 10 crore donations each, saying they were received via post or left iin the party office in a sealed envelope. Others like RJD and Goa Forward Party said they had received Rs 1 crore and Rs 50 lakh respectively through bonds from the Prudent Electoral Trust. TDP and RJD merely said the donor details were “not readily available”.
JD(U), while declaring Shree Cement Ltd and Bharti Airtel as donors of bonds worth Rs 2 crore and Rs 1 crore respectively, did not reveal details of the remaining Rs 10 crore receipts. “Somebody came to our office on 3.4.2019 and handed over a sealed envelope and when it was opened we found a bunch containing 10 electoral bonds of Rs 1 crore each. We opened an account in SBI main branch, Patna, and deposited it in our party account on 10.4.2019. In this view of the situation, we are unable to provide any more details about the donors,” it submitted.
SP said it received Rs 10 crore sent anonymously “by post”, but revealed the names of other bond donors – San Beverages (30 lakh), S K Traders and B S Traders (Rs 7 lakh each), S K Trading co (Rs 1 lakh), A S Traders (Rs 5 lakh) and B G Traders (5 lakh).
NCP named Neotia Foundation and Bharti Airtel (Rs 2 crore each), Serum Institute’s Cyrus Poonawala (Rs 3.75 crore), Avinash Bhosle (Rs 4.5 crore) & Bajaj Finserv (7 crore) among its bond donors in 2019. AAP funding via bonds till 29.5.2019 was from Bajaj Group (Rs 3 crore), B G Shirke Construction Technology and Torrent Pharmaceuticals (Rs 1 crore each), among others.
Sikkim Democratic Front received Rs 50 lakh on 12.10.2018 from Vadodra-based Alembic Pharmaceuticals.
This accounts for 83% of the Rs 611 crore received by Tamil Nadu’s ruling party via bonds in the corresponding period.
As per fresh details of electoral bonds released by the Election Commission on Sunday, Future Gaming, the biggest donor through EBs, deposited contributions for DMK in four tranches — purchasing bonds worth Rs 60 crore between Oct 23, 2020 and Oct 29, 2020, Rs 249 crore between April 5, 2021 and Jan 11, 2022, Rs 160 crore between April 11, 2022 and Oct 12, 2022 and worth Rs 40 crore on April 20, 2023.
DMK’s other major bond donors between 2019-20 and 2022-23 included Mega Infrastructure (Rs 105 crore), India Cements (Rs 14 crore), Sun TV Network (Rs10 crore), Triveni (Rs 8 crore) and RamcoCements (Rs 5 crore). In all, it received Rs 656.5 crore during this period.
DMK while submitting bond details to EC on 14.11.2023 stated that with the electoral bonds scheme providing for non-disclosure of donor details by the authorised bank, “donors did not strictly adhere to the requirements of furnishing their details when they handed over the bonds to us”.
“Following the directions of the Hon’ble Supreme Court, we contacted our donors and we were able to collect the details from them,” it said.
Other parties which disclosed their donors via bonds right up to the time of EC sought the relevant details in November 2023 on the directions of the Supreme Court, include JD(S) and Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party (MGP). JD(S) stated its total Rs 89.7 crore receipts through bonds between 2018-19 and 10.4.2023 came from Megha Engineering & Constructions Pvt Ltd (Rs 50 crore), Embassy Group (Rs 22 crore), JSW Steel (Rs 5 crore) and Infosys (Rs 1 crore), among others.
More parties were forthcoming while sharing details of donors via bonds in 2019, again on directions of SC. These include Samajwadi Party, AIADMK, NCP, AAP, RJD, JD(U), Goa Forward Party and Sikkim Democratic Front (SDF). AIADMK revealed that its total Rs 6.05 crore funding through bonds in 2019 came from IPL team owner Chennai Super Kings (Rs 5 crore), Lakshmi Machine Works (Rs 1 crore) and Gopal Srinivasan of TVS Capital Funds (Rs 5 lakh).
Interestingly, even as these parties declared donors via bonds route until 2018-19, some like SP and JD(U) did not disclose the sources of Rs 10 crore donations each, saying they were received via post or left iin the party office in a sealed envelope. Others like RJD and Goa Forward Party said they had received Rs 1 crore and Rs 50 lakh respectively through bonds from the Prudent Electoral Trust. TDP and RJD merely said the donor details were “not readily available”.
JD(U), while declaring Shree Cement Ltd and Bharti Airtel as donors of bonds worth Rs 2 crore and Rs 1 crore respectively, did not reveal details of the remaining Rs 10 crore receipts. “Somebody came to our office on 3.4.2019 and handed over a sealed envelope and when it was opened we found a bunch containing 10 electoral bonds of Rs 1 crore each. We opened an account in SBI main branch, Patna, and deposited it in our party account on 10.4.2019. In this view of the situation, we are unable to provide any more details about the donors,” it submitted.
SP said it received Rs 10 crore sent anonymously “by post”, but revealed the names of other bond donors – San Beverages (30 lakh), S K Traders and B S Traders (Rs 7 lakh each), S K Trading co (Rs 1 lakh), A S Traders (Rs 5 lakh) and B G Traders (5 lakh).
NCP named Neotia Foundation and Bharti Airtel (Rs 2 crore each), Serum Institute’s Cyrus Poonawala (Rs 3.75 crore), Avinash Bhosle (Rs 4.5 crore) & Bajaj Finserv (7 crore) among its bond donors in 2019. AAP funding via bonds till 29.5.2019 was from Bajaj Group (Rs 3 crore), B G Shirke Construction Technology and Torrent Pharmaceuticals (Rs 1 crore each), among others.
Sikkim Democratic Front received Rs 50 lakh on 12.10.2018 from Vadodra-based Alembic Pharmaceuticals.