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F1’s Ecclestone ‘faces German bribery charges’

British Formula One mogul Bernie Ecclestone might soon find himself in front of a Munich court, as it emerged on Tuesday that bribery charges are apparently due to be filed against him before the end of the month.

Published: 14 May 2013 10:46 CEST
F1's Ecclestone 'faces German bribery charges'
Photo: DPA

Ecclestone is suspected of giving a $44 million bribe to top German banker Gerhard Gribkowsky, jailed ex-chairman of BayernLB bank, which was once the majority shareholder in Formula One. Authorities have been looking into the claims for the past two years.

The investigation is, the Süddeutsche Zeitung daily found out, now complete and a Munich court is gearing up to file charges against 83-year-old Ecclestone. They could be in place even by the end of this week or, at the latest, by the end of the month.

Ecclestone claims that he gave Gribkowsky money because he was being blackmailed. His lawyers are expected to use this argument to try and prevent the court bringing the charges to trial.

If judges do decide that the charges warrant trial, it looks unlikely that Ecclestone will appear in court before the autumn, if only because everything has to be translated into English for his legal team.

The next time Ecclestone will visit Germany is for the Formula One race at the Nürburgring track, in July. It remains unclear whether he will step down from his role, Süddeutsche Zeitung said. This may become more clear as the case progresses.

The Local/jcw

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BUSINESS

French court hands Amazon €90,000-per-day fine over contracts

French authorities on Wednesday slapped a €90,000-per-day fine on e-commerce giant Amazon until it removes abusive clauses in its contracts with businesses using its platform to sell their goods.

Published: 14 April 2022 09:06 CEST
French court hands Amazon €90,000-per-day fine over contracts

The anti-fraud Direction générale de la concurrence, de la consommation et de la répression des fraudes (DGCCRF) service said the online sales giant’s contracts with third-party sellers who use its Amazon.fr website contain “unbalanced” clauses.

“The company Amazon Services Europe did not comply completely with an injunction it was served and it is now subject to a fine of €90,000 per day of delay” in applying the changes, the DGCCRF said in a statement.

It also urged the platform to conform with European rules on equity and transparency for firms using online platforms.

Amazon said the order would harm consumers.

“The changes imposed by the DGCCRF will stop us from effectively protecting consumers and permit bad actors to set excessive prices or spam our clients with commercial offers,” the e-commerce giant said in a statement.

“We will comply with the DGCCRF’s decision but we absolutely do not understand it and we are challenging it in court,” responded the e-commerce giant in a statement.

Amazon said the clauses that the DGCCRF has ordered removed had, for example “prevented the appearance of exorbitant prices for mask and hydroalcoholic gel during the pandemic”.

In 2019, Amazon was fined €4 million for “manifestly unbalanced” contract clauses with third-party sellers on its site in a case brought by the DGCCRF.

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