Francisco Xavier "Mickky" Pacheco^[1][2] 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.^[3] 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.^[1]

In 2015, Pacheco was convicted of assaulting a government official and sentenced to imprisonment for six months,^[4] forcing him to resign from his ministerial post.^[5]

Pacheco won the 2002 Legislative Assembly election as a member of the United Goans Democratic Party.^[6] He later split and formed the United Goans Democratic Party (Secular), which merged with the Bharatiya Janata Party in January 2005.^[7] He later joined the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) and won the 2007 election.^[6] Prior to the 2012 Legislative Assembly election, he left the NCP and joined the Goa Vikas Party (GVP).^[8] Pacheco's wife Viola Pacheco was made the GVP president in 2012 he quit Goa Vikas Party and joined the Goa Su-raj Party; he lost the Nuvem Constituency in the hands of sitting ZP Member of Nuvem Wilfred D'sa.^[9][10]

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$1.4 million in 2023).^[11] He was an associate of former Chief Minister of Goa Churchill Alemao, but defeated him in the 2002 election.^[12] 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.^[11][12]

Belonging to a Catholic family,^[13] Pacheco claims to be from a "very poor family".^[14] He dropped out of school in 1981 when he was in seventh standard, and became a tailor "to support his family".^[11][15] Later he moved to Bahrain and the US.^[11] Pacheco says that he is still a fashion designer, and owns a showroom in Paris.^[14] Pacheco is a fan of Tupac Shakur and Snoop Dogg, and was a bass guitarist in a local band.^[14] 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.^[16]

Pacheco has been involved in various controversies,^[11] and has ten criminal cases registered against him.^[15] In June 2006, Pacheco slapped a junior engineer Kapil Natekar for not attending his personal assistant's call.^[5] Pacheco was sentenced to imprisonment for six months.^[5] In June 2010, he was arrested over his alleged involvement in the suicide of his girlfriend Nadia Torrado.^[12] 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.^[12] His estranged wife Sara Pacheco accused him of bigamy under the Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act, 2005.^[12] 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$12,000 in 2023) from a casino in 2009.^[11][12]

Pacheco was probed by the Central Bureau of Investigation when the United States' Bureau of Diplomatic Security alleged his involvement in illegal immigration of Goan youth and a money laundering racket.^[11][12]