Bernie Ecclestone, the commercial rights-holder of Formula One, is waiting to discover today whether he will be forced to defend himself in court in one of the biggest corporate corruption cases in the history of Germany.
As Britain prepared for the biggest motor race of the year, eyes were diverted from Silverstone, the home of the British Grand Prix, to Munich and a legal case that could shake the sport to its foundations.
Prosecutors are attempting to gather evidence against Ecclestone, the dominant force in Formula One for 40 years, alleging that he paid a $50 million bribe to Gerhard Gribkowsky, a former banker, during the sale of the sport to CVC Capital Partners. Gribkowsky, 53, has already been arrested on suspicion of corruption, tax evasion and fraud.
The deadline for prosecutors to file charges against Ecclestone and Gribkowsky passed yesterday. It is thought prosecutors were communicating directly with the lawyers for the two men, although Ecclestone said last night that he did not know whether charges were to be filed. He would defend himself, though, if need be.
“I have done nothing so I have no idea what charges they could bring,” Ecclestone, 80, told The Times. “I have done what I had to do at all times during this investigation and I have co-operated fully with the people in Germany. As far as I am concerned, there are no problems.”
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Ecclestone has protested his innocence since the first day that his name was dragged into the sensational allegations that involved Bayern LB, one of Germany’s biggest banks, and a sport that dominated television screens across the country for the best part of a decade.
Gribkowsky, who was at the centre of negotiations for the sale of Formula One to CVC in November 2005, has been held in jail since January with prosecutors briefed to put together a case that linked Ecclestone to the payment that the banker is said to have deposited in accounts in Austria to avoid taxes in his home country.
Ecclestone travelled to Munich in April to face prosecutors, happy to give evidence, but now he must wait to find out what the prosecutors — led by Hildegard Baumler-Hosl, one of Germany’s foremost lawyers — have discovered and whether he will be able to clear his name immediately.
CVC, which employs Ecclestone as chief executive of Formula One, appears relaxed about events, publicly at least. Despite reports that it was deeply concerned about the investigation in Munich, Donald McKenzie, CVC’s managing partner and a keen Formula One fan, was happy to appear at Ecclestone’s side at the Monaco Grand Prix last month. He dismissed reports that Ecclestone’s future at the helm of Formula One was in doubt.
Ecclestone, characteristically, refuses to be put off his stride. He has described himself in the past as no more than a “firefighter”, putting out blazes throughout Formula One’s turbulent history off the track and a succession of tricky deals and complex legal arguments.
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But he admits that when there have been no fires, he likes to start one, leading to some of the extraordinary political infighting that has been the hallmark of Formula One.
The timing of this legal episode could not be worse for Formula One. The sport has been mounting a public relations offensive in the run-up to the British Grand Prix, the biggest event on the sporting calendar this weekend with more than 300,000 fans expected at the old circuit.
Anxious to throw off accusations that Formula One is only a rich man’s playground run by the billionaire Ecclestone, the teams have been reaching out to fans and trying to polish up an image tarnished over years of controversy and legal actions that have covered everything from cheating to spying.
But with the outcome of the investigation in Germany looming, Ecclestone has still found time to engage in a bitter war of words with Jean Todt, the president of the FIA who replaced Max Mosley, Ecclestone’s long-time friend and close adviser.
They clashed over the staging of the discredited Bahrain Grand Prix with Ecclestone wrong-footing Todt to win the public relations battle and now they are engaged in a tense dispute over the future of “green” technology that Todt, the FIA president, wants to introduce.