A week after Gozo Minister Anton Refalo said the police were probing allegations of ticketing abuse at Gozo Channel, the ministry is yet to reply to questions related to this case.

Speaking during the One Television breakfast show on October 2, Dr Refalo said the alarm was raised after he came across two Gozo Channel tickets that had allegedly been sold twice in the space of four days. He said these tickets bore separate dates.

They had been sold to an individual who approached another minister to flag the case. The Gozo Minister said as soon as he was handed these tickets by his Cabinet colleague he instructed the permanent secretary to call the police.

Dr Refalo had said abuse was “rife” at Gozo Channel, hinting that this could be the reason behind its financial woes.

He could not understand how a company that had a monopoly in its sector and carried a record number of passengers and vehicles was still losing money.

The minister said the statistics were also fuelling suspicion, as there were significant discrepancies in the number of vehicles travelling to Gozo and back over a particular period of time.

Dr Refalo said that by the end of the year, the current practice of selling tickets from Mġarr only would be scrapped. Instead tickets would also be sold from the Ċirkewwa terminal.

Despite the seriousness of these allegations, the Government has made no official statement. The Gozo Ministry was not forthcoming when Times of Malta sent questions about the financial implications of this alleged scam.

The ministry also failed to substantiate Dr Refalo’s claims about discrepancies in the number of vehicles crossing to Gozo and making the return trip.

In addition, questions sent to the police yesterday were not answered by the time of going to print.