It is not the first time that Bernie Ecclestone, the absolute ruler of Formula 1, finds himself writing millionaire checks. In this case, however, the payment will be more bitter: the 100 million that he is about to pay out will in fact serve to close the trial in which he is accused of corruption. The settlement agreement arrived last Friday and was accepted by both Ecclestone's lawyers and the Munich public prosecutor's office. All that is missing is the go-ahead from judge Peter Noll, who, in the event of an (improbable) refusal, would resume the hearings as early as Wednesday.
Noll himself, on the other hand, has made it clear that it is impossible to move forward with the investigation unless more detailed information is obtained about the $44 million Ecclestone paid to Gerhard Gribkowsky in 2006. The prosecution's hypothesis was that the money had been used to pilot the sale of BayernLB's share in Formula 1 – the bank of which Gribkowsky was president – to the CVC investment fund, which now controls the top motoring championship.
For his part, Sven Thomas, Ecclestone's lawyer, denies his client's guilt: “It was a payment without any conviction – he told the Independent -, the presumption of innocence does not change at all. Mr Eccleston wants the case closed soon as it has become too much to bear the charges."
The lawyer then ironically added that with that money another beautiful circuit could have been built in Germany. German law provides that trials can be halted by a payment to charity or the Treasury if all parties agree. So much so that Ecclestone's office had already made a payment proposal in June, which however was not accepted. Now the circumstances seem to have changed and the millionaire offer - the highest that the German state has ever received for a trial - has been accepted by the parties.
If the agreement goes through, Ecclestone will no longer risk 10 years in prison, nor of losing his position within the Formula 1 consensus. The 83-year-old king of engines is certainly not new to lean figures, but in the end if the 'she always got away. Among the numerous precedents, it is worth remembering the million pounds that in 1997 he gave to the Labor Party so that he did not object to cigarette advertisements during the grand prix: on that occasion the donation was returned to the sender by Tony Blair.
Finally, the unhappy tirades of the British tycoon were numerous: from "women are domestic appliances" (in 2000) to "Hitler was a man who completed things" (in 2009), up to the recent endorsement for the anti- gay launched by Vladimir Putin.
