Gerhard Gribkowsky, formerly the chief risk officer at state-owned BayernLB,
has already been jailed for 8½ years for accepting corrupt payments, tax
evasion and breach of fiduciary duties.
Senior figures on the board of the company that runs Formula One, not to
mention the teams and other major stakeholders in the sport, are deeply
concerned by the latest developments, although Telegraph Sport
understands that, as of yesterday, no meeting of the board had been called.
It is thought unlikely that CVC chairman Donald Mackenzie, who effectively has
the final say, will seek to remove Ecclestone unless investors – many of
whom have compliance concerns – apply serious pressure or business is
adversely affected.
Mackenzie said during the seven-week High Court trial last autumn that
Ecclestone would be fired if found guilty of a crime.
When contacted on Friday night by Telegraph Sport and asked if he and
Mackenzie had spoken on the phone and what the reaction had been to the
judgment, Ecclestone said: “Yeah, sure. Absolutely. I’ve spoken to Donald.
It was nothing of any importance. He is skiing at the moment.
“They [the F1 board] can’t understand how the judge has reached his
conclusion. My lawyers can’t either. They have been through it all and they
can’t find where I lied.”
Ecclestone released a statement in the wake of the judgment in which he said
that Mr Justice Newey’s observations were “opinions” and “not underpinned by
reliable evidence” since important witnesses, including Gribkowksy, did not
appear in the High Court.
Keith Oliver, the head of commercial fraud litigation at Peters and Peters
Solicitors LLP, representing Constantin, described the statement as
“bizarre” and said Ecclestone’s legal counsel could have asked Gribkowksy to
appear in the case had they wished to. Oliver reiterated that his client
intended to appeal.
Mr Justice Newey will hear arguments on costs in the Constantin v Ecclestone
case on March 27 after which Constantin has 21 days in which to appeal
against the judgment.