The 81 year-old said on Thursday that he was “aggravated” by the ongoing
claims but not unduly worried. He maintains he got BayernLB a “very good
price” for its stake. “They [BayernLB] have asked our lawyers in Germany if
they could have $400 million back,” Ecclestone shrugged in a hospitality
suite at the Buddh International Circuit.
“I didn’t respond. There’s no point is there? They will sue. If they win, they
get paid. If they lose, it will cost them.
“A massive per cent of these actions that take place, people settle. They
don’t want the trouble. The very reason I gave Gribkowsky money was to stop
the problem and aggravation which would have gone on for years.”
Ecclestone, however, has not offered to settle with either BayernLB or Hahn
and is prepared to fight them in court. “Absolutely,” he said. “But there’s
nothing to worry about. I’m aggravated with the nonsense I’m being put
through for all this. I sold the shares for the bank. It was something they
couldn’t sell.
“They had six people look at it and wouldn’t buy. I got them out of trouble
and now I’m in trouble. Life is like that sometimes.”
One senior figure within the sport said yesterday that he felt it would be
“not be easy” for Ecclestone to survive the repeated allegations of
corruption, but Ecclestone brushed aside such suggestions with typical
nonchalance.
“I’ve been under a cloud for three years. Dieter sued me two years ago,” he
said. “I’m still waiting for that to come to court. If this goes to court
[the case with BayernLB] in England, maybe different things will come out.
But there’s nothing to stop me running F1.”
Asked whether there was any chance he could end up in a German prison,
Ecclestone replied: “I hope not. I wouldn’t complain about German prisons,
but I’d rather not be in one anywhere to be honest.”
Ecclestone’s ongoing travails dominated the build-up to this weekend’s Indian
Grand Prix where Red Bull’s Sebastian Vettel will be looking for a fourth
consecutive win to further stamp his authority on the championship.
Ferrari’s
Fernando Alonso, six points behind the German in the title race, said he was
still convinced he could prevail despite the dramatic turnaround in the
standings. “At the moment we have seen that Red
Bull maybe has the fastest car, especially on Saturday,” the
Spaniard said.