Descheemaecker revealed he had ordered an audit in February from Ernst & Young to look into the procedure followed for the purchase of Fyra during the period 2000-2004. He received the report in May, and it was discussed by the NMBS board.

Although he did not give details about the contents of the report, Descheemaecker’s decision to turn it over to the prosecutor suggests there was reason to suspect irregularities. One of them is, reportedly, price. According to the Dutch public broadcaster NOS, which claims to have read the Ernst & Young report, the representatives of the Dutch rail authority NS and the NMBS had a strong preference for Fyra, which the company came to be aware of. The price went up from €18.9 million to €20.7 million without any clear technical reason, the report says. Only two parties – AnsaldoBreda and a French constructor – were still in the running for the contract.

AnsaldoBreda’s complaint concerns the NMBS’ criticism of the technical shortcomings of the Fyra train, which CEO Maurizio Manfellotto described as “teething troubles”. The NMBS had failed, he claimed, to take advantage of his company’s offer of regular maintenance inspections, which in turn led to serious failures once the trains were put into service during heavy snow.