An official inquiry could be launched into why Bermuda's only Co-Operative grocery store went bust in a bid to discover if the organisation's management was incompetent.

And Government ministers are keeping up the pressure on Opposition MPs by demanding why they have not yet commented on the issue.

Last night Finance Minister Grant Gibbons told The Royal Gazette : "An inquiry is something that could be considered, although at this point the Government has not made a decision.

"I think one of the difficulties the membership has is that they are not protected and I understand that they are liable for all the debts management has left them.

"The membership ought to be asking some very serious questions about management incompetence.'' More than 1,200 Co-Op members have been asked to bail out the business after it went bankrupt.

But PLP politicians have so far failed to discuss the issue in the House of Assembly, despite repeated attempts by Government MPs to raise the issue.

Co-Op member and Government Senator E. (Bob) Richards has also demanded an inquiry. "We need to get some answers,'' he said.

"Members are being asked for money and there doesn't seem to be any accountability and nobody is telling us where the money is going.

"But I find it a little strange that the Opposition isn't asking for the same thing. It's in everyone's interest -- but they just don't want to talk about it.'' Government members believe PLP MPs are embarrassed to talk about the issue because of senior Opposition member links with the failed concern.

In Friday's session of The House of Assembly Government once again demanded why the Opposition would not help to shed light on the fiasco.

Premier Pamela Gordon said: "There is a silence and it's a very big silence on that side of the House.'' And she dismissed PLP claims that Government was exploiting the issue as a PLP failure, claiming that UBP MPs were representing their constituents when they kept hounding the Opposition about the issue.

"There are members here who acknowledge their responsibility to their constituents and we are not going to sit here like dead people -- it would be totally irresponsible for the Government not to respond,'' she said.

Last night Development and Opportunities Minister Jerome Dill agreed Government was "not trying to score cheap political points'' over the issue.

"The Opposition seems to think it should be defensive about this -- there's no need,'' he said.

"The point is there are people out there who are hurting and the PLP ought to be saying where it stands on this issue.'' When asked last night by The Royal Gazette why they would not respond to the matter in the House of Assembly, two PLP MPs were tight lipped.

Hamilton Parish East MP and BIU leader Derrick Burgess repeatedly dodged the question claiming, that the Co-Op was not the first company to go bust.

And Pembroke East's Ottiwell Simmons, who played a major role in the founding of the Co-Op when he was BIU leader, said he could not comment on behalf of the party.

But when repeatedly asked why he had never brought the subject up he eventually said: "Well I might this Friday.''