Ecclestone does not deny paying Gribkowsky but insists he was blackmailed by
the German who threatened to make false claims to HMRC which could have
triggered a lengthy and costly investigation. He told The Telegraph last
year that CVC “will probably be forced to get rid of me if the Germans come
after me. It’s pretty obvious, if I’m locked up”.
A statement from the Munich court last month said that a decision on whether
to proceed to trial was “no longer expected this year” but there
are rumours in Germany that the case could now be moved forward, possibly to
as early as next week.
German prosecutors are likely to be watching closely to see what happens in
the High Court where German media company Constantin Medien, a former
shareholder in Formula One, will argue that Ecclestone and three other
defendants deliberately undervalued Formula One when private equity firm CVC
bought into the business in 2005.
Constantin sold its 16.7 per cent stake for €8.5m (£7.2m) to BayernLB in 2003.
It sold at a loss on condition that it would receive a 10 per cent share of
any proceeds if the bank’s stake was sold for more than $1.1bn.
CVC paid $814m to BayernLB, so Constantin missed out on a payment.
Constantin claims that CVC was Mr Ecclestone’s preferred buyer as it had
agreed to retain him as F1’s chief executive.
Ecclestone’s former lawyer Stephen Mullens, the Ecclestone family’s Bambino
Holdings trust fund and Gribkowsky himself are the other defendants in the
damages claim. The case is expected to last around three to four weeks.
Ecclestone is also facing action in the United States where an American
private equity firm Bluewaters Communications Holdings has filed a $650m
(£408m) lawsuit at the Supreme Court of New York State. Bluewaters says it
should have been sold BayernLB’s stake as it had offered “10 per cent above
any genuine bona fide offer put forward by any other competing buyer”.
Ecclestone has missed the last three Formula One grands prix, in Korea, Japan
and India where on Sunday Red Bull’s Sebastian Vettel claimed his fourth
straight drivers’ title.
“It’s not ideal, it would be better if it wasn’t happening, but we can’t
change the court system,” he said of the High Court case beginning
today.