Bernie Ecclestone Facing Bribery Charge

German prosecutors have indicted Formula 1 boss Bernie Ecclestone for alleged bribery.

The charge relates to a $44m (£29m) payment to a German banker, Gerhard Gribkowsky of Bayern Landesbank. It was linked to the sale of a stake in F1.

Mr Ecclestone said he had paid Mr Gribkowsky to avoid a UK tax inquiry into the sale of Formula 1 in 2006, but denied the payments were bribes.

In 2006, Gribkowsky was in charge of managing the sale of regional bank BayernLB's 48% stake in Formula 1 to private equity firm CVC Capital Partners, which owns most of the sport.

In evidence to a Munich court in June last year, Gribkowsky admitted that prosecution claims he had corruptly received $41.4m (£26.6m) in bank commissions, and a large payment via a family trust from Ecclestone, were "essentially true".

In his testimony, Ecclestone said he had been worried that if he had not paid the money, Gribkowsky would have alerted the UK tax authorities to "things" that might have led to a tax inquiry.

"The only alternative was that the British tax authorities followed a case that would have been very expensive for me," said Ecclestone at the time.

"The tax risk would have exceeded £2bn. I paid him to keep calm and not to do silly things."