Rs 1,368 crore - that's the total amount lottery baron Santiago Martin's firm Future Gaming and Hotel Services Private Ltd gave to political parties via electoral bonds. Based on the data released by the State Bank of India on the Election Commission of India website, Martin's firm is the highest purchaser of electoral bonds in the country, more than any other company or individual.
Now, which party was the biggest beneficiary of Future Gaming's donations?
There's no way of ascertaining that as the alphanumeric code of each electoral bond hasn't been made public as yet.
But there is another interesting aspect to the electoral bonds purchased by Future Gaming and that is the timing of the purchases. Or to use a more popular word, the chronology.
It turns out that several of the firm's biggest donations came within a few days after the assets of promoter Santiago Martin were attached by the Enforcement Directorate.