Ecclestone admits to bribery

Bernie Ecclestone today admitted paying large sums of money to a former German banker during his trial in Munich. The president of Fom, owner of the commercial rights of the F1, claimed that if he had not paid the German banker Gerhard Gribkowsky, the latter could have given information to the British tax authorities about his fortune, which would have earned him a lawsuit " extremely expensive ».

Gerhard Gribkowsky is accused of having received almost $44 million in bribes from Ecclestone in 2006 and 2007, in return for having sold the rights to F1 to the investment fund CVC, which guaranteed the continuation of the Briton at the head of the discipline. As risk director at Bayern LB, Gribkowsky was responsible for the sale of the F1 rights that became the property of the Bavarian bank in 2002 after the bankruptcy of Leo Kirch's media group, of which she was a creditor. Bernie Ecclestone agreed to give evidence in exchange for a guarantee that he would walk free at the end of the hearing, which is due to continue tomorrow.