CBI INQUIRY DEMANDED INTO THE FINANCES OF ATANASIO MONSERRATE

PANJIM: 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