A bribery trial against Formula One boss Bernie Ecclestone that has been threatening his hold over the motor sport may end early with a settlement, a Munich court spokeswoman said yesterday, after Ecclestone’s lawyers held talks with prosecutors.
Ecclestone, 83, went on trial in Munich in April over allegations he bribed a former German banker as part of the sale of a major stake in the motor sport business eight years ago.
“It is possible that there will be a settlement,” a spokeswoman for the district court told Reuters, adding the court had told witnesses due to appear in the trial next week that they need not come.
Ecclestone’s lawyers held talks with prosecutors on Tuesday.
If convicted the British billionaire could face up to 10 years in jail
Lawyers for Ecclestone, who denies wrongdoing, said they had offered to pay German state-owned bank BayernLB €25 million to help settle the case.
If convicted the British billionaire could face up to 10 years in jail and would have to cede control of a business he has built up over the past four decades.
Prosecutors have rejected a request from the defence to drop proceedings on the grounds of a lack of evidence.
Under German law, a settlement payment to a party involved would not necessarily bring a criminal case to an end.
Ecclestone is accused of channelling $44 million to jailed BayernLB banker Gerhard Gribkowsky to smooth the sale of a major stake in the business by the bank to private equity fund CVC, which became the largest shareholder in Formula One in 2006.
The prosecution alleges that Ecclestone wanted CVC to take control because this meant he could stay on as chief executive of a business he had been instrumental in building.
Gribkowsky had been chief risk officer at state-owned bank BayernLB, which became a major shareholder in Formula One following the collapse of the Kirch media group in 2002.
Ecclestone says he paid off Gribkowsky as an “insurance policy” after the German threatened to make damaging false claims about his tax affairs. He funded the payment with a commission taken from BayernLB after the sale to CVC. Under German law, judges, prosecutors and the defence can agree to dismiss a case or settle it with a light punishment, although terms for such an agreement are strictly defined.
Ecclestone had previously offered to pay money back to BayernLB in 2012 to try to prevent the case from going ahead but that proposal was rejected.