Tiger Associates, a Kolkata-based firm linked to fraudster Santiago Martin, dramatically increased its political donations to Tamil Nadu’s DMK party during the 2025-26 financial year, according to disclosures submitted to the Election Commission. The amount more than doubled the firm’s ₹50 crore contribution to the party in the previous financial year, raising questions about the DMK’s dependence on a small group of major donors.
Tiger Associates contributed ₹125 crore to the DMK through 14 separate donations in 2025-26. The firm’s designated partner, Subbayan Nagarajan, is a longtime associate of Santiago Martin. Corporate records also show that the two are partners in another firm.
The DMK reported total contributions of ₹191.19 crore in 2025-26. Tiger Associates alone accounted for more than 65% of this amount, making it the party’s largest contributor among the donors listed in the latest disclosures.
The party’s total reported contributions had declined considerably from ₹365.82 crore in 2024-25 to ₹191.19 crore in 2025-26. This drop came despite Tiger Associates increasing its contribution from ₹50 crore to ₹125 crore over the same period.
The DMK’s 2024-25 contribution report had recorded more than ₹300 crore in cash contributions, primarily under its Party Development Fund.
Electoral Trusts also contributed to the DMK
Apart from Tiger Associates, the DMK received substantial contributions from electoral trusts during 2025-26.
Prudent Electoral Trust donated ₹25 crore to the party, while Triumph Electoral Trust contributed ₹15 crore. Jaybharath Electoral Trust gave another ₹4 crore.
Together, these three electoral trusts contributed ₹44 crore to the DMK. Combined with Tiger Associates’ ₹125 crore, the total reached ₹169 crore, accounting for about 88.4% of the party’s reported contributions of ₹191.19 crore for the year.
Several major contributions were made in February and March 2026, ahead of the Tamil Nadu Assembly elections. The election eventually saw the DMK lose power to Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam (TVK), the party founded by actor-politician Vijay.
Santiago Martin’s Company and the Electoral Bonds controversy
Santiago Martin has previously been in the spotlight over political donations made by his company, Future Gaming and Hotel Services.
Data released by the Election Commission in March 2024 showed that Future Gaming had purchased electoral bonds worth around ₹1,368 crore between April 2019 and January 2024. Of this amount, the DMK received ₹509 crore through the now-scrapped electoral bond scheme.
The Supreme Court struck down the electoral bond scheme in February 2024, ruling it unconstitutional. The subsequent release of donor and recipient details brought several large political contributions into public view.
Apart from Tamil Nadu’s DMK, Scam-tainted Santiago Martin has close ties with several political parties, including the Communist Party of India (Marxist) in Kerala, the Trinamool Congress (TMC) in West Bengal and the Congress party.
Santiago Martin and his ‘lottery scam’
Santiago Martin is also accused of causing a loss of ₹910.29 crores to the Sikkim government through the fraudulent sale of lottery tickets in the State of Sikkim between 1st April, 2009 and 31st August, 2010.
“Martin and his associate companies and entities made unlawful gains with a corresponding loss to the government of Sikkim to the extent of ₹ 910 crore on account of inflating the prize-winning tickets claim for the period from 01.04.2009 to 31.08.2010,” the ED said in a statement in May 2023.
At that time, the central agency seized his movable properties (mutual funds and fixed deposits) worth ₹157.7 crores and documents of immovable properties to the tune of ₹299.16 crores.
A former daily-wage labourer in Yangon in Myanmar, Santiago Martin went on to establish a ₹7000 crore ‘lottery’ business. He has been under the radar of investigative agencies since 2011 for financial fraud and money laundering.
While Tiger Associates and Future Gaming are separate entities, the latest DMK contribution disclosures have again brought attention to the scale of political donations associated with scams and individuals linked to Martin.
