* Stephen Kitt <skitt@debian.org>, 2014-03-15, 14:53:
==> debian/tests/control <== Tests: check Restrictions: needs-root build-needed rw-build-tree Depends: @builddeps@
It's probably unrelated to the problem you're observing, but this Depends is certainly incorrect. The specification says that “tests must test the INSTALLED version of the program”, but there is nothing in Depends to ensure that the program is in fact installed.
-- Jakub Wilk