F1 CEO Bernie Ecclestone will pay $100M "to end a German corruption case that’s tainted his role as Formula One chief for more than three years," according to Suess & Matussek of BLOOMBERG.
Munich judges overseeing the trial since April "signed off on the settlement after prosecutors agreed to have the case dropped upon the payment." Ecclestone said that "he would be able to transfer the amount within a week." Presiding judge Peter Noll said that the trial "so far didn’t support the suspicion in major parts and more evidence-taking isn’t likely to yield other results."
Noll said that the payment "reflects Ecclestone’s wealth and will have to be divided" into $99M to be paid to the state and $1M paid to a child-hospice charity, adding that the case "will remain on hold until the payments are made" (BLOOMBERG, 8/5). In London, Kevin Eason reported Ecclestone "traded in the currency he understands best to deal with a Munich criminal court -- hard cash."
There "is an almost poetic quality to the story of a billionaire who walks free of serious bribery charges because he writes a cheque" for $100M, but those who know Ecclestone best "will be raising a glass this morning to their 'Teflon Man,' the entrepreneur who has survived for more than 60 years in business because he is sharper, faster and prepared to play harder than everyone else." In F1, there "will be either a sigh of relief or sharp intake of breath." There are "those loyal to Ecclestone through every legal quagmire and every gaffe, but just as many who were hoping that this would mean the end of the Ecclestone era (LONDON TIMES, 8/5). Also in London, Alice Ross reported the court added that it had taken into account Ecclestone’s "age, health and the difficulty of attending court hearings in a foreign country with the associated language difficulties that involved." An opinion piece in the Munich-based Süddeutsche Zeitung said that the Ecclestone case “results in a loss of confidence in the judiciary.” An opinion piece in the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung called it “an obscene deal” and argued that the prosecution should have followed the trial through to the end (FINANCIAL TIMES, 8/5). In London, Josie Le Blond wrote speaking on German radio on Tuesday, Germany's former Justice Minister Sabine Leutheusser-Schnarrenberger "called the deal 'cheeky.'" If it were to go through, she said, "it would not be consistent with the spirit and purpose of our legal system." Ecclestone's lawyer, Sven Thomas, "defended the settlement negotiations," saying that his client had been suffering from an "extremely burdensome procedure" (GUARDIAN, 8/5).
