 |
Bernie Ecclestone has admitted that he paid only $23 million (£14m) to a former German bank executive rather than the $44m (£27m) which has been alleged, and repeated his assertion that the money was not a bribe. According to a press release sent out by the Munich state prosecutor’s office last week, F1’s 80-year-old chief executive paid $44m "in bribes" to Gerhard Gribkowksy who, as chairman of Formula One’s holding company SLEC, oversaw the sale of the sport to current owners CVC Capital Partners in 2005. (Read the complete news) |
Gribkowsky, then chief risk officer at Bayerische Landesbank, one of three banks which had a stake in F1 at the time, has been charged with breach of trust, tax evasion and being in receipt of corrupt payments.
Ecclestone initially denied any knowledge of the payments. However, he has now admitted to paying Gribkowsky $23m after being "shaken down" by the German.
Gribkowksy, he says, threatened to make life difficult for him with the Inland Revenue by making “false claims” regarding the running of the Ecclestone family trust Bambino Holdings.
If the UK tax authorities had launched an investigation at the time, Ecclestone claims it could potentially have cost the trust billions so his lawyers advised him to pay.
No comments:
Post a Comment