We paid bus bribes too

By: Michael O’Farrell 

Investigations Editor

FOUR more whistleblowers from different parts of the country have come forward with further claims of bribery and corruption in Bus Éireann, the Irish Mail on Sunday can reveal.

The new allegations – which range from regular cash bribes in brown envelopes to free holidays and hotel stays, in exchange for lucrative school routes – bring to five the number of whistleblowers who have made disturbing claims about kickbacks at the semi-state company.

Last week the MoS revealed that Bus Éireann CEO Martin Nolan wrote to the Public Accounts Committee stating an internal inquiry found no grounds to either sanction any staff or refer the matter to gardaí but a secretly recorded interview with a whistleblower appeared to contradict the findings. Three government ministers responded to say the matter should be referred to the garda fraud squad and anyone with evidence to substantiate allegations of corruption should come forward.

And PAC chairman John McGuinness said his committee would examine the secret recording, revealed in last week’s MoS, that appears to contradict Mr Nolan’s letter.

Writing to the PAC in February, Mr Nolan said the whistleblower had withdrawn his claims and had not admitted to any improper payments. The tape makes it clear that the whistleblower stood by ‘98%’ of his allegations.

Now the MoS can reveal that Bus Éireann is facing allegations of bribery that are far more widespread and long-standing, and involving many different contractors and employees.

In addition to the four new whistleblowers, the MoS has also met more than a dozen operators throughout the country, all of whom speak openly of alleged kickbacks and bribes going back more than a decade.

Many want to go public and say they are willing to make statements to any Garda investigation – despite the fact that they themselves could be prosecuted.

Some have already prepared affidavits in which they outline their claims. The MoS is aware of two whistleblowers who have had informal meetings with fraud squad detectives. They have also sought the help of Transparency International, which has provided legal advice and help gathering further evidence for a formal Garda complaint.

Prior to publication the MoS provided Bus Éireatnn with redacted copies of all the allegations made by the new whistleblowers in affidavits, statements and on transcripts.

In response, a spokesman said: ‘As we have repeatedly said this week, we advise anyone with evidence of any corruption charges to bring it to the attention of the gardaí’. The company declined to comment further.

The MoS has also obtained the transcript of a recorded phone conversation dating back to 2002 in which another private operator discusses how he and others routinely paid ‘dropsies’ to Bus Éireann employees.

The bribes were allegedly paid every two weeks when the operators handed over their invoices for providing Expressway services.

In the recorded conversation, the operator explains that he was told that he’d get more permanent contracts if he paid those responsible for allocating runs.

‘He didn’t say money but basically you read between the lines. They are not going to say money, you know. But it is basically, “Look after us and we will look after you”,’ the transcript reads.

The contractor said he paid about £1,000 a year in cash in increments of £40 slipped into the invoice envelope he handed in every two weeks.

‘You would invoice them every two weeks and in the invoice you would basically put £40 in or else the work dried up the following week. You got nothing.’ One of the four whistleblowers who have agreed for their stories to be published today claims that his involvement in the school transport scheme was built on a corrupt transaction from the very beginning.

The operator alleges that to gain a foothold in the scheme in 2000, he was able to buy a route from another operator for £22,000 even though the allocation of routes is not in the gift of contractors.

‘At the time, the operator told us that he had to… make a backhander or cash payment to get the route transferred to us,’ the whistleblower said.

This allegations will prompt comparisons with the experience of Garda whistleblowers John Wilson and Maurice McCabe, whose claims were dismissed by an internal Garda inquiry, as they were ostracised and harassed.

The contractor outlines several meetings in which he claims cash bribes were sought for contracts.

‘I say and so believe that they were indicating that they were willing to be persuaded and I knew that they wanted me to offer to pony up a cash payment,’ the affidavit reads.

‘It was intimidating and frightening and it made me very anxious. I say and so believe that I know I lost business… as a result of not participating in this behaviour.’ The acceptance of bribes is strictly forbidden by Bus Éireann’s code of conduct which specifically states that employees must ‘refuse bribes, gifts, hospitality, benefits or offers of preferential treatment which may affect one’s ability to make independent judgment’.

Yet until 2011 none of the school transport runs – valued at a combined €166m – was put out to tender by Bus Éireann, despite the millions involved and the huge potential this created for corruption.

A new policy has been implemented that a quarter of all school runs be tendered each year.

Furthermore, any contractors tendering for routes must sign a declaration to state that they ‘have no relationship with any employees… which may result in a conflict of interest in bidding for or performing the contract’.

But despite the new rules, key staff retain the capacity to influence how school bus routes are awarded to private contractors.

After last week’s revelations, three Government ministers – Transport Minister Leo Varadkar, Junior Transport Minister Alan Kelly and Junior Education Minister Ciarán Cannon – demanded a full report from Bus Éireann and asked that any evidence in the possession of whistleblowers be reported to gardaí.

Mr Cannon came under fire last year for allowing Bus Éireann to investigate itself when a draft affidavit containing the initial allegations was sent to him.