Supreme Court stays PMLA trial against 'lottery king'

NEW DELHI: Supreme Court on Wednesday stayed the trial in a money laundering case against lottery king Santiago Martin and issued notice to ED on his plea that PMLA hearing be deferred till the disposal of predicate offence registered against him by CBI.

A bench of Justices A S Oka and Ujjal Bhuyan passed the interim order and sought response of the agency on his plea. ED had booked him in a money laundering case based on a case filed by CBI in which he was booked under various provisions of Indian Penal Code (IPC) as well as the Lotteries (Regulation) Act.

Martin in his petition raised a question for court's examination whether the trial of a predicate offence, which is the basis to trigger money laundering case, should take precedence over the trial in the PMLA case.