Munich (Germany), Nov.10 (ANI): Formula One boss Bernie Ecclestone has admitted to paying a Munich banker 27.5 million pounds to stop him from making allegations about a family trust to the British Inland Revenue which he claimed could have made him liable for billions in back tax.
Ecclestone, 81, appeared as a key witness in a Munich court in what has been billed as Germany's biggest post-war corruption trial, involving payments and alleged bribery totalling more than 55 million pounds.
According to The Independent, he told the court that he paid the 27.5 million pounds to banker Gerhard Gribkowsky in 2006 to prevent him from making what he said were unfounded allegations that he controlled a family trust called Bambino.
He said he feared the allegations could have left him liable for back tax estimated at about two million pounds.
"It would have been a disaster for me. It was risk I could not afford to take. I thought that if he [Gribkowsky] gets upset with me, he might do something quite vindictive. I thought if I give him the money, it might help to keep him quiet and peaceful and not do silly things," Ecclestone said.
The payment was made during the sale of Formula One in 2006. At the time, Gribkowsky worked for the state-owned Bayerische Landesbank (BLB) and was in charge of the sale of BLB's Formula One stake.
Under the deal, Ecclestone is alleged to have received the equivalent of 25.4 million pounds from the BLB with a further 15.5 million pounds being paid into the Bambino trust.
Prosecutors have charged Gribkowsky with bribery, corruption and tax evasion. He faces up to 10 years in jail if convicted.
The case relates to a large Formula One stake which BLB sold to a private equity company called QVC five years ago. (ANI)
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