The Labour Party has accused Finance Minister Tonio Fenech of trying to deceive Parliament with regard to the ferry service between Malta and Gozo.

The party said that, last year, its leader Joseph Muscat had asked Mr Fenech how many Gozo residents used the ferry between January 2007 and December 2008. At first Mr Fenech said he would reply later on but two weeks later said he was not in a position to divulge such information because it was commercially sensitive.

However, the party said Mr Fenech had earlier informed Parliament on the number of ferry tickets sold between August 2007 and August 2008 to Gozitan and Malta residents travelling both with and without a vehicle.

Labour's spokesman for Gozo, Anton Refalo said Mr Fenech could only have wanted to hide the truth and deceive the House. He accused Mr Fenech of refusing to reply because the government had issued a call for expressions of interest from those willing to operate another ferry service between Malta and Gozo.

Dr Refalo said Mr Fenech wanted to give the impression that the number of ferry passengers had greatly increased but, in fact, of the 435,000 passengers that used the service over the past eight years, 273,000 were Gozo residents who have to travel to Malta to work and study.

Mr Fenech replied that the government had always divulged such information but could not in this case because of the call it had issued.