The Madras High Court on Tuesday issued notice to the Enforcement Directorate (ED) on a batch of 39 appeals filed by the wife of Tamilaga Vetri Kazhagam (TVK) Minister Aadhav Arjuna, his father-in-law and lottery operator Santiago Martin, his mother-in-law, and several entities associated with or managed by the Martin family, challenging the attachment of properties worth more than $900 million pounds in a money laundering case.
A bench of Chief Justice Sushrut Arvind Dharmadhikari and Justice G Arul Murugan directed ED Special Public Prosecutor N Ramesh to entertain the notice of appeals and associated interim applications seeking stay of the attachment proceedings.
The appeals filed by Santiago Martin, his wife and All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) MLA Leema Rose, and his daughter, challenge the order of the Court of Appeal dated May 30, 2025, under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), which upheld the interim attachment order of the ED on June 9, 2023 and refused to interfere with an earlier order of the adjudicating body confirming the attachment.
The batch of appeals also includes those filed by several companies and companies associated with the Martin family.
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The ED first registered an Enforcement Case Information Report (ECIR) against Martin and others in 2014, on the basis of the CBI chargesheet relating to the alleged loss $Rs 910.29 crore to the Government of Sikkim.
According to the ED, the loss arose from the sale of Kerala lottery tickets through alleged manipulation or inflation of prize-winning tickets. Between 2016 and 2023, the Executive Directorate issued six temporary seizure orders covering the value of the properties $910.29 crore, which it termed as proceeds of crime. In November 2023, the judiciary confirmed the agency’s latest seizure order regarding the value of the assets $456.84 Crores. The Court of Appeal subsequently rejected the appeals submitted to this order.
On appeals, Martin and the others argued that E.D. It was initially based on the allegation that a partnership firm in which Martin and his co-accused N Jayamurugan were partners had made illegal gains from $910.29 crore by inflating claims of prize-winning lottery tickets. The ED also alleged that Martin owned 51 percent stake in the company while Jayamurugan owned the remaining 49 percent, and the alleged proceeds of crime were divided between them in that ratio.
The appeals allege that after tying up assets on this basis over several years, the DG changed its position in 2023 and claimed that Future Gaming and related entities owned or managed by the Martin family generated the entire proceeds of crime. ED used such a theory to justify the new association with properties worth more $456.84 crore, appeal claim.
Martin and the others also argued in their appeals that at present, no original offense remains as proceedings under the Lottery (Regulation) Act cannot proceed without a complaint from the State of Sikkim. They cited court findings in the proceedings involving other accused, where an affidavit filed by the Sikkim government stated that it had not suffered any loss.
Martin also alleged in his plea that ED exceeded the scope of its jurisdiction by investigating allegations that do not appear in the CBI’s indictment, deprived him of effective questioning and relied on an inconsistent and incomplete factual record while securing the facility’s assertion.
The Supreme Court is scheduled to hear the appeals in July this year.
