F1 chief pays £60m to end bribery trial
FORMULA One boss Bernie Ecclestone eliminated one of the obstacles to his continued running of the global motorsport series yesterday when he agreed to pay £60m to settle his bribery trial in Germany.
The deal, which confers neither guilt nor innocence on Ecclestone and is based on a clause in German law, signalled an end to the four-month trial and a row that dates back eight years.
Ecclestone was accused of paying a German banker £26m in 2006 to ensure that a 47 per cent stake in F1 was sold to private equity firm CVC Capital Partners, who would keep him in charge.
The 83-year-old British billionaire always denied wrongdoing, arguing that he was blackmailed into paying the sum amid threats that he would be subjected to unfounded allegations about his tax affairs.
Ecclestone’s lawyer Sven Thomas indicated previously that his client was minded to settle, despite maintaining his innocence, because he found the trial “extremely burdensome”.
Prosecutors told the Munich court that the octogenarian’s age was a compelling factor in favour of striking the settlement, believed to be the biggest of its kind in German legal history.
CVC warned in November that it would “fire” Ecclestone from his position, ending an association with the sport that has spanned six decades, if he was found guilty of anything “criminally wrong”. He also faced a 10-year jail sentence if convicted of bribery.
Ecclestone resigned from the board of F1 parent company Delta Topco in January because of the impending trial, although he continued to run the sport day to day. The move was specified as being “until the case has been resolved”.
Uncertainty over CVC’s long-term plans for its 35 per cent stake in F1 further clouds Ecclestone’s own future in a position he has held for 40 years. Ecclestone, who is one of Britain’s richest men and estimated to be worth £2.5bn, has hinted that he could buy CVC’s stake himself.
The settlement drew criticism from Germany’s former justice minister Sabine Leutheusser-Schnarrenberger, who said it went against “the spirit and purpose of our legal system”.