Jul 12, 2012, 08.23 AM IST

Banker in Formula One bribery case gets 8-1/2 years

A German banker who admitted to taking bribes during the sale of a stake in the Formula One business, was sentenced to 8 years and six months in prison by a Munich court on Wednesday.

Source: Reuters

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Banker in Formula One bribery case gets 8-1/2 years

A German banker who admitted to taking bribes during the sale of a stake in the Formula One business, was sentenced to eight years and six months in prison by a Munich court on Wednesday.

Presiding judge Peter Noll convicted BayernLB's former chief risk officer Gerhard Gribkowsky of tax evasion, bribery and breach of fiduciary trust.

Gribkowsky was arrested in January 2011 in relation to the sale of BayernLB's 48 percent stake in Formula One to UK investor CVC , which Formula One chief Bernie Ecclestone was keen to see as a new shareholder.

Gribkowsky in June admitted in court that he received 45 million euros and a job offer as part of a secret agreement with Ecclestone in 2005.

Ecclestone, for his part, has described paying Gribkowsky as a "bit stupid".

He has, however, contested that he paid only some 10 million pounds to Gribkowsky to "keep him quiet" because Gribkowsky had been putting him under pressure over his tax affairs and not to smooth the sale to CVC.

The judge has previously said Gribkowsky could face up to nine years in prison.

BayernLB had ended up with the Formula One stake following the bankruptcy of late German media mogul Leo Kirch and had assigned Gribkowsky with hiving it off. (Reporting by Christian Kraemer and Ludwig Burger; Editing by Hans-Juergen Peters)