Bernie Ecclestone’s bribery trial begins on Thursday.<\/p>\n
It could be the final lap in a long and lucrative career for the 83-year-old Briton, as two courts have already found that he did indeed bribe the already-jailed former F1 banker Gerhard Gribkowsky.<\/p>\n
The criminal trial in Germany could see Ecclestone also out of a job and in jail.<\/p>\n
In the indictment papers, he is accused of paying $44 million to “win over” Gribkowsky, who has already been convicted in the same jurisdiction for receiving the bribes.<\/p>\n
According to F1 business journalist Christian Sylt, quoting from the indictment, Ecclestone offered Gribkowsky “personal gain” in exchange for dispensing “with BayernLB as a formula one shareholder as quickly as possible.”<\/p>\n
Writing in the Guardian, Sylt said Ecclestone is not commenting this week.<\/p>\n
“It doesn’t look terribly good for him,” Sylvia Schenk, a senior sports lawyer for the anti-corruption agency Transparency International, told Bloomberg.<\/p>\n
“Under a compliance point of view you have to remember that Ecclestone has already admitted paying the $44 million to Gribkowsky, and for reasons which don’t seem to be really kosher,” she said.<\/p>\n
“It’s not exactly an exhibit of integrity.\u00a0 But the justice system still needs to prove his individual responsibility.”<\/p>\n
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