Ecclestone denies bribery charges
Formula One chief executive Bernie Ecclestone rejects bribery accusations at the beginning of a trial that could break his dominance of the world of motor racing.
Lawyers acting for the 83-year-old read out a 100-page statement in German at the beginning of the trial in Munich.
Prosecutors say Ecclestone bribed banker Gerhard Gribkowsky with $44m to smooth the sale of a stake in Formula One to private equity firm CVC eight years ago.
They say Ecclestone wanted CVC as the new owner because it was committed to keeping him on as chief executive of the business.
He faces up to 10 years in prison if convicted.
Ecclestone does not dispute making payments to Gribkowsky but says he did so because the banker was blackmailing him over his tax affairs.
Gribkowsky was in charge of selling that 47 percent stake in F1 in 2005. He was jailed for more than eight years in Munich in 2012 for tax evasion and corruption in relation to payments from Ecclestone.
CVC paid about $830 million for its stake and remains the biggest shareholder in the $1.5bn-a-year grand prix business.
Ecclestone’s lawyer Dr Sven Thomas, said: “It is undisputed that payments were made, it is now about giving plausible reasons why payments were made.”
He said the court would be shown a letter allegedly writter by Gribkowsky telling Ecclestone “that he should keep out of the search for a buyer”.
“That is the exact opposite of what was in the apparent wrongful agreement was which was said to have been made three months earlier”, Dr Thomas told reporters.
Court spokesman Andrea Titz said: “According to (Ecclestone’s) plea, it was the case that he saw himself as threatened, as blackmailed with regard to possible tax investigations in his homeland.
“He feared that information which Dr Gribkowsky had, or claimed to have, could have caused him great difficulty with his national tax agency and he explained in detail why he saw himself in this situation, why he saw himself under threat and why he then felt that he had to make payments.”
Ecclestone, wearing a dark suit, sat at a wooden desk flanked by his lawyers and with an interpreter at his side on the first day of a case due to last until September.