The Aam Aadmi Party said here on Saturday that the State-owned financial institution EDC Ltd. had failed to attach a hypothecated barge of the absconding former Goa Minister Mickky Pacheco, and demanded that the personal guarantees given by Mr. Pacheco and his wife be enforced to recover over Rs. 4.97 crore of overdue loan and interest. The couple’s company, Giovanni & Zibronni Shipping Pvt. Ltd., took a Rs. 4-crore loan to acquire the barge in 2008.
At a press conference, AAP State unit convenor Valmiki Naik said that on July 17, 2013, a district court passed an order observing that EDC Ltd. had shown that Mr. Pacheco’s company and he and his wife, Viola Fernandes, were careless in paying dues and had not responded to notices issued to them. The court asked the EDC to attach the barge and enforce the guarantees.
However, Mr. Pacheco was made a Minister by the BJP-led government last November despite his history of default. On January19, 2015, during the pendency of the cases, EDC Ltd., instead of making efforts to recover its dues, made a suo motu offer to the Minister a special one-time settlement scheme.
Mr. Pacheco even failed to make the down payment which was a prerequisite to utilise the aforesaid scheme.
