Last month Mr Mullens and Mr Ecclestone won a related civil case in London’s
High Court which had been brought by the German media rights firm,
Constantin Medien.
It claimed that CVC was Mr Ecclestone’s preferred buyer as it had agreed to
retain him as the boss of F1. CVC paid $814m for the F1 stake but Constantin
argued that other bidders would have offered more. It demanded $140m in
damages as it had an agreement entitling it to 10pc of the proceeds if the
stake sold for more than $1.1bn.
The judge, Mr Justice Newey, ruled that “the payments were a bribe” but added
that “it was no part of Mr Ecclestone’s purpose (or Mr Mullens’) for BLB’s
shares to be sold at an undervalue”.
Mr Mullens and Mr Ecclestone deny that the $44m was a bribe. They say
Gribkowsky threatened to tell HM Revenue Customs that Mr Ecclestone
controlled the Bambino trust if the money was not paid.
Bambino is based offshore whereas Mr Ecclestone is a UK resident so he would
be liable to pay tax on the $4bn in the trust if he was found to be in
control of it – a claim he strongly denies.
Mr Mullens declined to comment. Mr Ecclestone said he is “annoyed the judge
said I bribed Gribkowsky”. He said his contract with BLB meant “they
couldn’t fire me”, while his CVC contract meant “they could have fired me
the day after I signed it”. “So I would hardly have paid to get that
contract for a start,” he added.