Panaji, Sept. 5: 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.