Panaji: The BJP Saturday demanded a CBI inquiry
into the finances of Goa Education Minister Atanasio
Monserrate, who was detained at the Mumbai airport last week
for allegedly carrying unaccounted foreign and Indian
currency.
The BJP Goa desk in-charge Aarti Mehra told reporters
here that Monserrate's alleged links to Hawala business should
be probed.
"He himself has said that in the past also he travelled
with huge sum abroad. Why did he go with such money. There
should be CBI probe into his finances," she said.
She accused the customs authorities of adopting double
standards when it came to Monserrate.
"Customs was giving minute to minute account to media
when Pakistani singer Rahat Fateh Ali Khan was arrested
with excess foreign currency. But when it came to Monserrate,
they became secretive," Mehra alleged.
She alleged that customs officials are hiding something
as they had received call from the office of the Union
Minister of Finance.
Monserrate's detention at the Mumbai airport on April 2
had snowballed into a political controversy with Opposition
BJP stalling the Goa Legislative Assembly session over
the issue for three days.
The minister is currently in Mumbai since Friday, where
he is being interrogated by the Customs department.
PTI
First Published: Saturday, April 09, 2011, 20:52