Bernie Ecclestone’s court case has finished. Facing up to 10 years in prison on bribery charges Ecclestone has paid the German courts $100 million (£60 Million) to settle the case. Ecclestone was accused of paying a German Banker, Gerhard Gribkowsky who worked for Bayern LB, in order to make sure his preferred buyer, CVC Partners, were able to purchase Bayern LB’s stake in Formula 1.
Throughout the trial Ecclestone has maintained his innocence throughout the trial and will be relieved to put this controversy behind him. The prosecutors accepted Ecclestone’s offer taking into account his advanced age and “other mitigating circumstances”. The $100 million is a record for this type of payment, with $99 million going to Bavaria and $1 million being donated to a children’s hospital.
This deal ends a series of legal proceedings involving Bernie Ecclestone this year. Earlier this year Ecclestone defeated a claim for £85 million in damages made by German media group Constantin Medien, who were an interested party in the sale of Bayern LB’s stake in F1. However during the case the judge, Mr Justice Newey, described Ecclestone as not being reliable or truthful during the case and that he had made a corrupt deal. Ecclestone won this case as the judge ruled that Constantin Medien had suffered no financial loss.
Paying your way out of bribery charges is the very definition of irony. Bernie Ecclestone’s millions may have gotten him out of a trial but they did not acquit him. The trial may have ended but Ecclestone has been neither found guilty nor not guilty. Ecclestone has said he was a bit of an idiot to pay as the prosecution had no case. If that is true why pay to settle the case? Surely if Ecclestone is innocent as he claims, and if the prosecution have no case he would have been acquitted? The cases over but the notion that Ecclestone paid a bribe will linger. In a legal sense Ecclestone has been vindicated but this payment will leave a lingering doubt about the truth of Bernie Ecclestone’s guilt or innocence.
The Future for Bernie Ecclestone and F1
No stranger to controversy Ecclestone will see his immediate future as business as usual. He will go back to the day to day running of Formula One. No stranger to putting controversy behind him this latest episode is unlikely to faze him and will go back to being the head of F1. However at 83 years old Ecclestone cannot go on forever so he will eventually have to step aside and management will take over F1.
F1 may have moved past the immediate uncertainty surrounding Bernie Ecclestone’s future however with his advancing age the billionaire is no longer the long term future for F1 and sooner rather than later the paddock will have to deal with the question of his succession.
Bernie Ecclestone has long been a controversial figure and has shrugged it off each time and got on with the business of running Formula One. For him this time is no different than any of his previous controversies he will move on. However does the fact he paid a court $100 million to drop a bribery charge leave too much of a shadow over Ecclestone? Will this speed up his retirement. These questions can only be answered with time, but even when he has retired, much like his football counterpart Sepp Blatter, questions will always remain about the ethics and potential corruption of Bernie Ecclestone
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