17/03/2014
NEWS STORY
Bernie Ecclestone has revealed that he regrets making a $44m payment, which German prosecutors believe was a bribe, according to an article in the Express by Christian Sylt.
The payment was made by Ecclestone and his family's Bambino trust to Gerhard Gribkowsky, former chief risk officer at German bank BayernLB. Gribkowsky was responsible for selling BayernLB's 47.2% stake in F1 in 2006 and German prosecutors believe he was bribed to sell to the private equity firm CVC as it had agreed to retain Ecclestone as the sport's chief executive.
In 2012 Gribkowsky was sentenced to eight and a half years in prison in Munich for receiving the alleged bribe and next month Ecclestone is due to be put on trial for paying it. Since last year Gribkowsky has been let out of prison on a daily basis to work in a managerial role in a construction firm and, according to one source, he was recently spotted waiting for a train to the German city of Cologne.
Ecclestone denies paying a bribe and claims that Gribkowsky threatened to tell the UK's Inland Revenue that he controlled Bambino if the $44m was not paid.
Bambino is based offshore whereas Ecclestone is a UK resident so he would be liable to pay tax on the $4bn in the trust if he was found to be in control of it which he strongly denies. He says he paid Gribkowsky even though the allegation was false as it could have triggered a lengthy and costly investigation if it had been reported to the Inland Revenue.
"I regret paying him," says Ecclestone. "I should have let him write the letter to the Revenue and let the Revenue try to prove what he said. It's a wonderful thing hindsight."
He adds that the German prosecutors believe "that I bribed him to breach his fiduciary duty. His fiduciary duty was to do the best things he could for the bank so I say that's what he did because he sold the shares which he was told he had to. The board said 'sell.'"
The shares were indeed sold and next month a German judge will begin the task of deciding whether anything irregular took place. Ecclestone has already shrugged off two cases connected to the sale and now he needs to do it one more time.