Big hole in Gozo ferries ticketing system - 13,000 passengers, 600 cars not recorded

Over 13,000 passengers and 600 vehicles were carried by the Gozo ferries last year but were not recorded in the electronic ticketing system, giving rise to strong suspicions of “tampering”. It was also noted that though 39,000 passengers and 16,500 vehicles were recorded as having crossed the channel, they never made the trip back to Malta. This could have financial repercussions because the two-way fare is only paid at the Mġarr terminal ticketing booth. These shortcomings were flagged by the National Audit Office in a follow-up report meant to evaluate the progress in the implementation of recommendations it had made to Gozo Channel Co. Ltd a few years back. The recommendations had been made on the strength of an audit for 2013, which had revealed significant internal control weaknesses. These varied from lack of control on overtime, inefficient use of human resources, weak budgetary control as well as unreliable and untraced documents. In its follow-up analysis, done over the past few months, the Auditor General noted that the company had managed a financial turnaround since 2013 when it lost over €1 million. In comparison, last year, it made a profit of €1.8 million. A 22...