Lottery company Future Gaming and Hotel Services Pvt Ltd, the biggest purchaser of electoral bonds, donated almost 40 percent of its total purchases to the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam party (DMK). Between 2019 and 2024, the company bought bonds worth over Rs 1,300 crore.
According to the latest data shared by the Election Commission on Sunday, the DMK was among the parties that named its poll bond donors.
According to the data, via poll bonds from April 19, 2019, till November 14, 2023, the party received a total of Rs 656.5 crore. This included Rs 509 crore from Future Gaming, between April 2019 and April 2023. The company is run by Santiago Martin.
From Future Gaming, the DMK received its first tranche of electoral bonds (worth Rs 60 crore) in 2020-21. Between 2021 and 2022, the amount increased to Rs 249 crore. In April 2021, the Tamil Nadu Assembly elections were held when the DMK ousted the then AIADMK government.
In 2022-23, from Future Gaming, the DMK received another Rs 160 crore via poll bonds. On April 1, 2023, the remaining amount was donated.
According to the overall year-wise data, in 2019-2020, the DMK received contributions totalling Rs 45.50 crore, coinciding with the May 2019 general polls. The major donors included Lakshmi Machine Works (LMW) at Rs 1.50 crore, RAMCO Cements at Rs 5 crore, India Cements at Rs 10 crore, Mega Infrastructure at Rs 20 crore, Triveni at Rs 5 crore, Birla at Rs 1 crore, IRB at Rs 2 crore and Apollo at Rs 1 crore.
In 2020-2021, the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam party saw contributions totaling Rs 80 crore. Future Gaming gave Rs 60 crore, while Mega donated Rs 20 crore.
The 2021-2022 financial year saw a big jump in the poll bond contributions received by the DMK party. The bond added up to Rs 302 crore. Future Gaming gave Rs 249 crore, Mega donated Rs 40 crore, Sun TV Network Rs 10 crore, India Cements Rs 4 crore, and Triveni Rs 3 crore, reported The Indian Express.
The poll bond contributions to the DMK in 2022-2023 added up to Rs 185 crore (including Rs 160 crore from Future Gaming), and Rs 25 crore from Mega. In 2023, Future Gaming contributed an additional Rs 40 crore.
Future Gaming has been flagged by the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG), the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA), and many central agencies as a company engaging in fraudulent lottery business. Since 2015, it has been under the scanner of the MHA.
Following this, the company went on an electoral bond buying spree, purchasing Rs 190 crore worth of bonds the very next month.