TWO senior executives at the Dutch company in charge of Scotland's railways have been dismissed amid a scandal over how a 15-year train and bus franchise was awarded.

 

Abellio chief executive Jeff Hoogesteger is to leave without compensation over his involvement in the row which has embroiled Abellio's parent company, Nederlandse Spoorwegen.

The operator was plunged into crisis on Friday when Timo Huges, the chief executive of the Nederlandse Spoorwegen (NS), stood down after investigators accused him of trying to mislead them with "inaccurate and incomplete" statements over how NS awarded a contract to an Abellio subsidiary.

The NS boss has resigned with immediate effect and will not receive any severance pay.

It comes barely two months after Abellio took over the running of the ScotRail franchise on a minimum seven-year term, with the option to extend it to 2025.

Mr Hoogesteger visited Scotland in April to deliver a speech at the Scottish Transport Conference in Edinburgh, a major industry event attended by Transport Minister Derek Mackay.

Abellio also operates the Greater Anglia rail franchise in England and has been shortlisted in a joint bid with Scottish transport giant Stagecoach to continue running the service when the new franchise terms begins in October 2016.

However, it faces competition from Aberdeen-based First Group and National Express, which previously operated the East Coast Main Line from 2007 to 2009.

Both men have been replaced on an interim a basis by NS's chief financial officer Engelhardt Robbe.

The probe centred on apparent irregularities in the awarding of a major contract in the Netherlands.

In February, the Dutch province of Limburg selected Qbuzz subsidiary Abellio Limburg as the winner of a 15-year contract to operate local rail and bus services.

However, on April 28 NS announced that an internal investigation had discovered that a former employee of incumbent franchise-holder Veolia had been hired through an intermediary and provided confidential information which gave QBuzz, the Abellio-owned company, a competitive advantage.

The contract award was cancelled, with second-ranked bidder Arriva awarded the contract on June 2.

In a statement, NS said: "Following ongoing investigations, Mr Hoogesteger has been released from duty and dismissed from his position without any form of severance compensation".

A spokeswoman for the Scottish Government said: "We are aware of the outcome of investigations of the franchise competition for regional passenger services in Limburg.

 "However we have today (Fri) received assurances that appropriate steps are being taken by Abellio UK to continue to manage its separate UK franchises by putting customers first.

"There is absolutely no suggestion of any conduct that puts the ScotRail franchise procurement process in doubt. Reviews by Audit Scotland and independent auditors have supported and indeed praised the process and the outcome."

Abellio UK managing director Dominic Booth said:"The news from the Supervisory Board of NS the Dutch owner of Abellio is very serious for the Group.

"However this does not directly affect the leadership of the franchises we run in the UK which operate under distinct local management.

"Matters in the Netherlands will run their course but our focus here must and will remain entirely on continuing to serve our customers well".