INFO BFM PARIS ÎLE-DE-FRANCE. After accusations of fraud in technical inspection, RATP requests an audit from the State

INFO BFM Paris Île-de-France. Faced with accusations of fraud in the technical inspection of buses made at the end of August, which he refuted, Jean Castex asked the State services to carry out an audit within the RATP.

Jean Castex has ordered an audit from government departments to ensure RATP’s internal procedures for technical inspection of buses, BFM Paris Île-de-France learned on Thursday, September 5.

This request was made following accusations of fraud in the technical inspection of buses, revealed in an article in Le Parisien on August 21.

“At the request of the RATP, and in the interests of transparency, the competent State services have been called upon to audit the internal procedures of the RATP regarding the technical inspection of buses,” the RATP told BFM Paris Île-de-France.

An internal message sent to agents

The announcement was made internally to RATP agents by Jean Castex, in a message shared on Tuesday, September 3, which BFM Paris Île-de-France was able to consult. The CEO of RATP denounces the accusations, repeating the arguments already transmitted to the press by the transport authority.

“These accusations are all the more unacceptable as they discredit the daily work of thousands of you, for whom I know that the safety of travellers is the absolute priority. We have immediately refuted them and I will continue to do so as necessary,” he told the agents.

The internal investigation at RATP is due to submit its conclusions this Friday after preliminary conclusions have already been sent to Île-de-France Mobilités.

The former Prime Minister insists on the fact that the RATP, “as part of bus maintenance, uses diagnostic boxes, which obviously have no purpose in hiding bus faults”.

Jean Castex details the procedure

In his message to the teams, Jean Castex assures that “it is therefore not possible to hide persistent faults during technical inspection by turning off dashboard lights.”

While he acknowledges that the RATP has a “procedure for resetting the warning lights recommended by the Surface Networks BU before a technical inspection”, he points out that this “only concerns one very specific case”.

Namely, “when buses travel to the technical inspection centre” via “fast lanes” and “travel at higher speeds than in the city”.

“In any case, this practice in no way exempts the external controller from carrying out all the technical checks required by law, with its own instruments,” he says.