Former Goa tourism minister Francisco Xavier “Mickky” Pacheco was caught on the backfoot on Sunday once again as reports surfaced that the US State Department’s Bureau of Diplomatic Security had informed India that Mr Pacheco might be involved in a big immigration and money laundering racket.
After the reports were published in a national newspaper, the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) MLA from Benaulim told reporters on Sunday that he was ready for an inquiry as his accounts were clear.
Mr Pacheco used to operate an employment agency along with his estranged wife Sara Pacheco which specialised in finding employment for Goans abroad. But according to the former minister, he has had nothing to do with the agency since he separated from his wife around four years back.
Government sources had said that the Bureau of Diplomatic Security had contacted the ministry of external affairs (MEA) around the time Mr Pacheco was incarcerated for his alleged involvement in the mysterious death of his girlfriend Nadia Torrado — he was in jail from July 9 till July 26, when he was awarded bail.
Sources said that over the last two months, the Americans have provided further proof to the MEA including documents and bank transactions and the evidence Mr Pacheco is being described as “substantive and watertight”.
Mr Pacheco, however, fell back to his stock excuse, the one he used while he was in prison: “My detractors are out to get me.”
“I was shocked when I read what appeared in the newspaper. My overseas employment agency has ceased to exist for the last four years, since I separated from my wife,” he said from his South Goa residence. He, however, added that he was not sure whether his estranged wife continued operating the firm. “I have not sent anyone abroad with forged or fake documents. I am ready to face any kind of investigation,” Mr Pacheco said.