Formula One billionaire Bernie Ecclestone has offered to pay a German bank €25m (Dh124.5m) to halt a criminal trial in which he is accused of bribery, his lawyers have said.
Prosecutors in Munich, where the 83-year-old went on trial in April over claims he paid a $44m (Dh161m) bung to secure a business deal, are still mulling over whether to accept the proposal.
If found guilty of the corruption charge, Ecclestone, who denies the allegation, faces up to 10 years’ imprisonment and an abrupt end to his decades-long dominance of F1.
Under German law, charges can be withdrawn by prosecutors if all sides reach an agreement.
The authorities had earlier rejected a request from Ecclestone’s representatives for the case against him to be thrown out on the grounds of a lack of evidence.
The Briton’s lawyers said he was now willing to pay ¤25m to state-owned Bayerische Landesbank, which had become a major stakeholder in F1 in 2002, to conclude the proceedings.
In a statement, the court said that discussions “on a potential end to the proceedings have not yet reached a conclusion”.
Ecclestone is accused of paying Gerhard Gribkowsky, a former board member at Bayerische, in return for ensuring that the sale of the bank’s F1 stake went to a private equity fund which would keep him on as F1 chief executive.
Ecclestone insists the payment was made under duress to Gribkowsky, who he claims had threatened to make false claims about his tax affairs.
Gribkowsky, who was in 2012 found guilty of accepting bribes, has acknowledged that he spread rumours about Mr Ecclestone but denies attempting blackmail.
Despite selling a majority of his F1 holdings in the 1990s, Ecclestone remains a dominant figure in the sport, and has juggled his appearances at court with management duties.
©The Independent