Pacheco questioned in illegal immigration case

PANAJI - Goa’s former tourism minister Francisco Pacheco alias Mickky was Friday questioned by Central Bureau of Investigation sleuths for immigration fraud.

Pacheco, a Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) legislator, was questioned at the CBI office near Panaji on for nearly three hours.

In a complaint registered Wednesday, the CBI had accused Pacheco and two others - Pedro Antonio Joanes and Daniel Raymond Fernandes of sending people to the US using forged documents.

According to media reports, the complaint was registered after Bureau of Diplomatic Security, a unit of the US State Department, had told the India government that Mickky may be involved in a massive immigration and money laundering racket operating out of the US.

Emerging after the questioning session, Pacheco told reporters that he was completely co-operating with the investigation. “I have nothing to hide. I am co-operating with the investigation,” Pacheco said.