Francisco Xavier "Mickky" Pacheco[2][3] (born 12 December 1964)[4] is an Indian politician who is a former three-term member of the Goa Legislative Assembly of the Nuvem and Benaulim constituencies and former leader of the Indian National Congress.[5] He held portfolios of Rural Development, Archeology and Archives, Tourism, Captain of Ports, Housing, Agriculture, Animal Husbandry, and Sports and Youth Affairs in the state cabinet.[2]
In 2015, Pacheco was convicted of assaulting a government official and sentenced to imprisonment for six months,[6] forcing him to resign from his ministerial post.[7]
In 1981, while he was in seventh standard, Pacheco dropped out of school and became a tailor "to support his family". As per his affidavit in the 2012 Legislative Assembly election, he has assets worth ₹5.96 crore (equivalent to ₹11 crore or US$1.3 million in 2023).[13] He was an associate of former Chief Minister of GoaChurchill Alemao, but defeated him in the 2002 election.[14] Several criminal cases are registered against Pacheco; he was also alleged by the United States (US) authorities of his involvement in illegal immigration of Goan youth to the US and money laundering racket.[13][14]
Personal life
Belonging to a Catholic family,[15] Pacheco claims to be from a "very poor family".[16] He dropped out of school in 1981 when he was in seventh standard, and became a tailor "to support his family".[13][17] Later he moved to Bahrain and the US.[13] Pacheco says that he is still a fashion designer, and owns a showroom in Paris.[16] Pacheco is a fan of Tupac Shakur and Snoop Dogg, and was a bass guitarist in a local band.[16] Pacheco was the owner of a football club Fransa-Pax FC, which was dissolved in March 2006 as a protest against the All India Football Federation.[18]
Reception
Pacheco has been involved in various controversies,[13] and has ten criminal cases registered against him.[17] In June 2006, Pacheco slapped a junior engineer Kapil Natekar for not attending his personal assistant's call.[7] Pacheco was sentenced to imprisonment for six months.[7] In June 2010, he was arrested over his alleged involvement in the suicide of his girlfriend Nadia Torrado.[14] He was forced to resign from his ministerial post in the then Indian National Congress-led government, but was later given a clean chit due to absence of evidence.[14] His estranged wife Sara Pacheco accused him of bigamy under the Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act, 2005.[14] Other cases against him are road rage, abusing and threatening a traffic police constable in Margao, forgery in property deals, and extortion of ₹3.69 lakh (equivalent to ₹9.3 lakh or US$11,000 in 2023) from a casino in 2009.[13][14]
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