However, at the start of 2010, around the time the pair split in what later
turned out to be hugely acrimonious fashion, the McLaren star suddenly
offered to give his father “between $3-4million”.
Hamilton claimed that he had no idea why the money was offered. “Maybe he was
feeling guilty,” Hamilton said. “I never asked [for the gift] but he did
propose to give me one.”
Under cross-examination Hamilton said that his intention had been to pay the
money into an HSBC account in Guernsey linked to a company, Belir
Associates, which was registered in the British Virgin Islands and set up in
the name of his father Davidson Hamilton. He added that he wanted the money
to be “for his family”, with the “ultimate beneficiaries” being his sisters.
Paul Downes QC, representing Di Resta, suggested that, in fact, “the only
possible reason for putting the money there was to conceal it”, adding that
in his opinion it appeared to be a “pretty sophisticated” way of doing so.
“Why hide a gift? It is tax free,” Hamilton said. “If I had wanted to hide it
I would have just opened an account in the Cayman Islands.”
Downes asked Hamilton whether he had received any tax advice at the time, to
which Hamilton replied that he had, although he had not disclosed the
relevant correspondence in evidence.
Belir Associates is the company cited by Di Resta in his defence against
Hamilton’s charge of unlawful termination of contract.
The Scottish driver alleges that he was misled over a multimillion-pound deal
with an energy drinks company called Go Fast that ultimately never came to
fruition.
The proposed deal, which would have netted Di Resta millions in sponsorship,
involved Belir Associates buying Force India’s energy drinks rights and
selling them on at a huge profit to Go Fast.
Although Hamilton was not listed as a director, Downes suggested that he
effectively controlled Belir since his father Davidson, who lives in Grenada
and is now in his 80s, was by then already suffering from an unspecified
affliction and was no longer in control of his actions. “You were the
guiding mind and spirit of Belir,” Downes said.
The offer of $3-4million made in March 2010 was suddenly withdrawn. Asked why
that was, Hamilton said he had no idea, neither had he made any effort to
find out. “It is not my place to go money-grabbing to my son,” Hamilton
said. “It’s not my business. He makes his own decisions.”
It later emerged that the pair, one of the most successful father-son
combinations in sporting history, went months without speaking to one
another.
Earlier in the day, Hamilton said that he was prepared to “swerve the truth”
in his role as a driver manager as long as it was to advance his client’s
career. “Just to be clear, there is lying and there is swerving the truth,”
he said. “I don’t do anything fraudulent.”
The trial is due to end on Dec 17 with a judgment not expected until
mid-January.
Meanwhile, McLaren denied that Mansour Ojjeh, a 25 per cent shareholder in
McLaren Group, “had expressed any desire to sell” his stake after
Sky News reported that the company’s non-executive chairman and former F1
team principal Ron Dennis was trying to raise funds for a £125million
buyout. “It’s business as usual,” said the spokesperson.