"I just refused to do illegal things," says Denis Breteau

• Abuse in nursing homes, health risks, dysfunctions of the political system ... These men and women have exposed scandals hitherto ignored by the general public.
• This week, Denis Breteau, a manager in the purchasing department at SNCF, tells how he was dismissed by SNCF, then finally reinstated after a legal action, after denouncing rigged tenders.
• It is the first to have benefited from the protection of whistleblowers under the Sapin II law.
• After a complaint in 2013, an investigation was opened in 2017 by the National Financial Prosecutor's Office (PNF) concerning suspected embezzlement by a subsidiary of the SNCF.

Heroes for some, traitors for others, whistleblowers uncover dysfunctions or wrongdoing and often pay a high price. Alone facing a company, lobbies, pharmaceutical companies and even sometimes facing the State, they report a threat or harm in the name of the general interest. 20 Minutes gives them the floor. This week, Denis Breteau, a manager at the SNCF purchasing department, tells how he was fired by the SNCF, then finally reinstated, after denouncing rigged tenders.

“I received my dismissal letter on December 26, 2018. A nice little Christmas present, after nineteen years of good and loyal service to the SNCF. But it had already been a while, almost ten years, that relations were very tense with my hierarchy, and that it was not going well in the purchasing department in which I worked in Lyon. It all started in 2009. They came to me one day and told me to discontinue an ongoing call for tenders for the purchase of software. I thought it was weird, but at the time, I didn't ask myself too many questions, and I executed the order. Three months later, they came back to me to order me to conclude this call for tenders, without competing, with the American company IBM. And instead of the million euro contract - which was originally planned - the bill amounted to almost 3 million euros!

At the time, the company had just won the transport market of the American giant IBM. In return, the SNCF management wanted the multinational to have that of our IT. But to do so was completely illegal! So I refused to enter this rigged tender game. We can sometimes be more flexible on certain things, let some small mistakes pass, but buying three million euros something worth it, it just was not possible. It was still taxpayer money! Internally, it became known and it caused a lot of reaction ... But management quickly found a solution. To circumvent the rules of public procurement - and give contracts to IBM without calls for tenders -, the SNCF decided in 2010 to create a fictitious company, the subsidiary Stelsia. They were thus able to make dozens and dozens of rigged tenders. Which ultimately represents between 150 and 300 million euros "lost" by SNCF.

"My boss at the time came to me and said to me that if illegal things had to be done, I had to do them, without asking questions"

My chief at the time, who was a senior manager, still came to see me saying that if illegal things had to be done, I had to do them, without asking questions. But all this went against my values, morality, and above all, legality. They of course tried to pressure me. A kind of “moral harassment” has started to take place. I was no longer entitled to any increase, no bonus ... After a while, I told myself that I could not sit idly by. As a manager at SNCF, I had job security, and the counterpart of that was to have the freedom and the "duty" to officially oppose this kind of practice. I then filed a complaint for the first time in 2012, then again in 2013 for "moral harassment" and for "embezzlement".

Our dossier on whistleblowers

The reprisals quickly fell. I was put in the closet immediately after filing my first complaint. My superiors then realized that it was easier for them to fire me. They first offered me bogus positions that did not exist in Paris, or under the orders of people I had previously denounced in Lyon. Then I was finally dismissed as a messy man at the age of 53, with a rigged disciplinary council. Normally when you are fired, it is for a breach or a serious fault. There was nothing there. It was a hyperviolent decision. I humanly resent the people who did this to me. But they never thought for a second that I could go for interim measures, and that I could benefit from the status of whistleblower.

"I am the very first whistleblower in France to have benefited from the Sapin II law"

I am the very first whistleblower to have benefited from the Sapin II law. Fortunately, I followed all the stages of the procedure. At the end of my hearing before the Industrial Court in April 2019, the SNCF was ordered to reinstate me. A decision that was confirmed last November. The Lyon Court of Appeal demanded my reinstatement, explaining that I had been the subject of "various unfavorable measures", having to "be linked to my revelations". Regarding the complaint I filed for "embezzlement", the National Financial Prosecutor's Office (PNF) decided in 2017 to take up this matter. A preliminary investigation has been opened and is still ongoing today. I know that a search was carried out last June on the premises of the SNCF, and that the investigations are continuing.

The company may deny me the status of whistleblower, but this is what the court found. For prosecutions, investigations are underway at the national financial prosecutor's office as well as at the Lyon prosecutor's office. SNCF is already being found guilty at the European commision. https://t.co/U4KsSfoafe

I also lodged a complaint at the end of 2018 for “moral harassment, offense of extortion of consent, complicity in embezzlement and bribery of witnesses” against several SNCF executives, including Florence Parly, the current Minister of Defense, who between 2014 and 2016, was director general of strategy and finance at SNCF. It was my supervisor, she was the one who signed my layoff in 2018 [before my dismissal]. These people are not just small fines but prison. We still talk about complicity in embezzlement! Psychologically, these people made me pass near suicide. For the moment, they manage to protect each other, but when they are brought to justice, it will be a different story… All I hope is that all the light will be shed on this matter, and that those responsible - those in high places - will one day be condemned.

... with more particularly severe and worrying expectations for the SNCF (… and “the highest executives of the public enterprise” (page 9 of the judgment) as well as certain ministers of the current government (@florence_parly & @Elisabeth_Borne ) on the criminal consequences to come https://t.co/zexi08GayH

“I left feathers, money, probably my career. But at least I can look at myself in a mirror ”

Today, with a little hindsight, I do not regret at all what I have done. So yes, I left feathers, money, probably my career. But at least I can look at myself in a mirror, telling myself that I have done the right thing. I know I have nothing to blame myself for, I'm straight in my boots. Everything I did, I did with full knowledge of the facts. I am not Don Quixote: I just saw that we were buying products that were not good and very expensive. We still did special effects in tens, with sums that amount to tens of millions of euros. But for these people, we are not to the nearest million. SNCF is 14 billion euros! We can still admit that companies that have money do such bullshit. But an institutionalized system to avoid invitations to tender ... This poses a real problem. Especially coming from people who had no qualms about attacking others who had defrauded up to a hundred euros ... "

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20 seconds of context

• Denis Breteau lodged a complaint for the first time in 2012 against the SNCF for "moral harassment" and "embezzlement", a complaint which was classified without continuation, then again in 2013 with constitution of civil party for the same reasons.
• SNCF has always denied the existence of rigged tenders or embezzlement. A SNCF spokesperson said that Denis Breteau "had never brought the start of a proof on the so-called embezzlement he denounced".
• The engineer also contacted the European Commission in 2013 concerning the Stelsia subsidiary. The Commission recognized in 2016 that Stelsia "did not apply the procurement directive, which is contrary to European public procurement law" and concluded that "Stelsia was the central element of an artificial construction (…) To bypass European regulations ”.
• SNCF argued “a difference in legal interpretation” concerning the European Commission decision on the Stelsia subsidiary. The latter had to cease operations in 2017.
• Denis Breteau also filed a complaint at the end of 2018 for “moral harassment, offense of extortion of consent, complicity in embezzlement and bribery of witnesses” against several SNCF executives, including Florence Parly.
• The National Financial Prosecutor's Office opened a preliminary investigation in 2017 concerning suspicions of embezzlement on the part of SNCF.

• Lyon
• Alert
• Justice
• embezzlement
• ibm
• termination
• SNCF