German Banker Arrested for Alleged Corruption In Formula One Sale

VOA Breaking News (Voice of America)
January 5, 2011 at 6:56 pm

A former top officer with Germany's public sector bank has been arrested for allegedly taking millions of dollars for himself in the sale of Formula One shares.

Prosecutors in Munich say the regional BayernLB bank's former risk assessment director, Gerhard Gribkowsky, was arrested Wednesday on charges of corruption, tax evasion and breach of trust.

A spokesman for the prosecutor's office says Gribkowsky was responsible for overseeing the 2006 sale of a stake in the Formula One motor-sports racing company to the London-based group CVC Capital Investment.

Prosecutors say Gribkowsky led the bank to sell its stake in Formula One without properly evaluating the company's true value. They charge that the former banker received $50 million disguised as consulting fees for his work.

The prosecutors say Gribkowsky then failed to pay millions of dollars in German taxes on the illegal income.

They say the money was paid into two Austrian firms that Gribkowsky established just for that purpose.