“Fraudulent documents discovered in tender for electric buses” NOW

‘Fraudulent’ documents have been agreed with Chinese electric bus manufacturers for the tender won by the Keolis transport company for, among other things, the supply of public bus transport in parts of Gelderland, Overijssel and Flevoland, sources report to the Follow the Money research platform.

It concerns a tender of 900 million euros.

The French transport company Keolis is said to have concluded so-called ‘side letters’ (secret contracts) with the Chinese bus builder BYD. They would guarantee the delivery of the electric buses, but would not face fines or lawsuits if they failed to fulfill their delivery guarantees.

These side letters surfaced in early March and were considered fraudulent by Keolis himself and hired consultants. One of the directors involved who signed the secret contracts has since been suspended and has been at home for weeks.

Tendering has already caused a stir

On September 24, it was announced that Keolis will provide public bus transport in the IJssel-Vecht area for ten years.

The tender for the French company caused indignation in Dutch politics and business at the end of last year, after the Dutch VDL, which also builds electric buses and is the European market leader, was passed for the tender. VDL would be too expensive and there would be no guarantee that the buses were delivered on time.

Mona Keizer, State Secretary for Economic Affairs, concluded at the end of April that there was no unfair competition or an uneven playing field in the tender.

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