BUS ÉIREANN HAS moved to rubbish fresh claims of bribery within the transport operator.

It added that sworn affidavits received last week, some filed to Bus Éireann by operators some of whom have lost contracts under the controversial Students Transport Scheme, have been passed on to gardaí.

“Since last week’s report in the Mail on Sunday, the father and family of the contractor who alleged corruption, wrote a letter to advise us at Bus Éireann that they do not support his actions nor do they believe the allegations of the contractor, who secretly recorded his interview with the Bus Éireann investigation team”, a statement on Bus Éireann’s website reads.

The Irish Mail on Sunday reported that a number of new whisteblowers have claimed that giving free holidays and offering hotel stays to staff were required to win contracts to operate school bus services.

“These allegations together with a wealth of Parliamentary Questions and FOI Requests have been orchestrated in a coordinated and determined campaign”,  Bus Éireann’s statement continues.

The allegations have not been presented in good faith and are designed to damage Bus Éireann’s reputation through a media trial rather than through the due process of the legal system.

It’s the latest phase in the ‘kickbacks’ scandal that has rumbled Bus Éireann in the past week.

Three Ministers have called one of the whisteblowers to bring his concerns to gardaí.

Bus Éireann said it concurred with their view that corruption is a criminal offence, and that the operator ‘treats such matters with the utmost gravity’.

They claimed in an affidavit made public last week that their contract was not renewed “as I did not contribute to a cash holiday fund to Alicante, Spain for a Bus Eireann inspector”.

Bus Éireann: We treat corruption claims with the utmost gravity >

Read: Bus operator didn’t get Bus Eireann contract because they ‘didn’t pay for an inspector’s trip to Alicante’ >

More: Ministers call on Bus Éireann whistleblower to contact gardaí over bribery claims >