Post by Macmoish on Jan 5, 2011 19:06:58 GMT
AP
Banker arrested over alleged $50 million F1-bribe
(AP) – 1 hour ago
BERLIN (AP) — A former German bank executive has been arrested for allegedly accepting a $50 million kickback in the 2006 sale of a large stake in the Formula One's rights holding company, German prosecutors said Wednesday.
The former risk manager of regional public-sector bank BayernLB was taken into custody on charges of corruption, tax fraud and breach of trust toward his former employer, prosecutors in Munich said in a statement.
Gerhard Gribkowsky was in charge of managing the sale of the bank's F1 stake to London-based buyout group CVC Capital Investment.
But prosecutors say he led the bank to sell it "without evaluation of its current value" which, in turn, earned him "two consultancy contracts totaling $50 million."
The money was paid to firms in Austria that he had set up for that purpose, prosecutors said.
German media on Wednesday widely cited unnamed judicial officials as saying the money had been paid by firms based in Mauritius and the Caribbean, but prosecutors declined to comment or to say who had been the source of the payment.
A spokesman for CVC in Germany, who declined to be named in line with company policy, declined to comment on Gribkowsky's arrest and the bribery allegations.
However, the prosecution statement alleged Gribkowsky failed to pay millions of euros in taxes on the additional income.
BayernLB, or Bayerische Landesbank, held a 48 percent stake in SLEC Holdings, which owned the companies that run the F-1 racing series. At the time, 25 percent were owned by the family trust of Bernie Ecclestone, the longtime commercial head of Formula One, and the remainder was held by other banks.
CVC bought Ecclestone's and the BayernLB's stakes and regrouped them in a firm named Alpha Prema, becoming the Formula One's majority shareholder. The price of the deal has not been disclosed.
Gribkowsky was BayernLB's chief risk officer and a member of the board between 2003 and 2008.
BayernLB was not immediately reachable for comment Wednesday.
www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5gUB1vgXm06VPhImW3S8X_u8y-KqQ?docId=28e58fdc0e1a43488f451eff470653fa
DAILY MAIL
Was the $50m parked in secret by arrested Germany banker given to him as a 'thank you' by F1 chief Bernie Ecclestone?
By Allan Hall
Last updated at 6:20 PM on 5th January 2011
Arrested: Gerhard Gribkowsky 'parked' 50m euros at Landesbank in secret
Prosecutors in Munich today arrested the former risk-management boss of the Bayerische Landesbank over $50m he 'parked' in a foundation in Austria without his superiors‘ knowledge.
Media reports in Austria and Germany said the money may have been a 'thank you' gift from F1 racing chief Bernie Ecclestone to Dr Gerhard Gribkowsky over a deal to sell a multi-million pound stake in the motor racing business that gave Ecclestone renewed control over the business.
Gribkowsky, a former executive committee member of the Munich-based bank from 2002 to 2008, is suspected of depositing money from overseas sources in the Sunshine Private Foundation of Salzburg.
The cash came from accounts in Mauritius and the Caribbean.
'It is said he did this without the knowledge of the bank,' reported the Munich-based Sueddeutsche Zeitung.
Bayerische LB refused to comment on the probe confirmed by prosecutors in Munich. Gribkowsky is now in custody and being investigated for fraud, money laundering and tax evasion.
Gribkowsky set up the foundation during the time he worked for the bank. What is of most interest to prosecutors is if the cash has anything to do with the Formula One deal that Bayern LB, as it is also known, brokered.
The bank was at the time involved in the marketing rights for motor racing following the collapse of the Leo Kirch media empire, much of which it underwrote to the tune of two billion euros.
Barbara Stockinger, a spokeswoman for the prosecutors, said the probe is reviewing the sale of a stake in a company connected to Formula One motor sports that BayernLB had used as collateral.
'The stake had been sold without being properly evaluated,' said Stockinger.
'According to the current findings, the suspect in turn received $50 million in payments disguised via two consultancy agreements.'
'Was this money a thank you gift from Bernie Ecclestone?' asked Bayerische Rundfunk radio on its website tonight, detailing how the bank initially was at loggerheads with Ecclestone and court proceedings were launched, only to be dropped later.
Racing links: Media reports in Germany said the payment may have come from F1 supremo Bernie Ecclestone, pictured here with driver Lewis Hamilton
Before the F1 rights were sold to CVC Capital Partners, Gribkowsky was a regular in the F1 paddock as the sport's carmakers threatened to split and race in a 'breakaway' series.
Gribkowsky was instrumental in restoring control to F1 chief executive Bernie Ecclestone after the sale to CVC.
The Sueddeutsche also speculates that the money was a whopping 'thank you' from the 80-year-old British billionaire. They confronted him about the source of the money but Gribkowsky gave 'no plausible explanation'.
Searches of his background proved that he neither inherited it or earned it.
Gribkowsky is no stranger to controversy. BayernLB's purchase of 50 per cent of the Austrian bank Hypo Group Alpe Adria for 1.63 billion euros in 2007, and the subsequent re-sale for one euro and nationalisation to avoid a collapse, led to his questioning by prosecutors last year.
Bayern LB reported a net loss in 2008 of 5.1 billion euros, mostly lost in disastrous investments on the American sub-prime mortgage market.
In all the bank has received some 10 billion euros in state bailouts.
More recently a wholly owned property company of the bank financed the building and running of a luxury hotel near where Hitler had his summer house in Berchtesgaden in Bavaria.
The hotel has yet to turn in a profit.
Read more: www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1344357/Landesbanks-Dr-Gerhard-Gribkowsky-arrested-50m-thank-Bernie-Ecclestone.html#ixzz1ABnnrlBa
Banker arrested over alleged $50 million F1-bribe
(AP) – 1 hour ago
BERLIN (AP) — A former German bank executive has been arrested for allegedly accepting a $50 million kickback in the 2006 sale of a large stake in the Formula One's rights holding company, German prosecutors said Wednesday.
The former risk manager of regional public-sector bank BayernLB was taken into custody on charges of corruption, tax fraud and breach of trust toward his former employer, prosecutors in Munich said in a statement.
Gerhard Gribkowsky was in charge of managing the sale of the bank's F1 stake to London-based buyout group CVC Capital Investment.
But prosecutors say he led the bank to sell it "without evaluation of its current value" which, in turn, earned him "two consultancy contracts totaling $50 million."
The money was paid to firms in Austria that he had set up for that purpose, prosecutors said.
German media on Wednesday widely cited unnamed judicial officials as saying the money had been paid by firms based in Mauritius and the Caribbean, but prosecutors declined to comment or to say who had been the source of the payment.
A spokesman for CVC in Germany, who declined to be named in line with company policy, declined to comment on Gribkowsky's arrest and the bribery allegations.
However, the prosecution statement alleged Gribkowsky failed to pay millions of euros in taxes on the additional income.
BayernLB, or Bayerische Landesbank, held a 48 percent stake in SLEC Holdings, which owned the companies that run the F-1 racing series. At the time, 25 percent were owned by the family trust of Bernie Ecclestone, the longtime commercial head of Formula One, and the remainder was held by other banks.
CVC bought Ecclestone's and the BayernLB's stakes and regrouped them in a firm named Alpha Prema, becoming the Formula One's majority shareholder. The price of the deal has not been disclosed.
Gribkowsky was BayernLB's chief risk officer and a member of the board between 2003 and 2008.
BayernLB was not immediately reachable for comment Wednesday.
www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5gUB1vgXm06VPhImW3S8X_u8y-KqQ?docId=28e58fdc0e1a43488f451eff470653fa
DAILY MAIL
Was the $50m parked in secret by arrested Germany banker given to him as a 'thank you' by F1 chief Bernie Ecclestone?
By Allan Hall
Last updated at 6:20 PM on 5th January 2011
Arrested: Gerhard Gribkowsky 'parked' 50m euros at Landesbank in secret
Prosecutors in Munich today arrested the former risk-management boss of the Bayerische Landesbank over $50m he 'parked' in a foundation in Austria without his superiors‘ knowledge.
Media reports in Austria and Germany said the money may have been a 'thank you' gift from F1 racing chief Bernie Ecclestone to Dr Gerhard Gribkowsky over a deal to sell a multi-million pound stake in the motor racing business that gave Ecclestone renewed control over the business.
Gribkowsky, a former executive committee member of the Munich-based bank from 2002 to 2008, is suspected of depositing money from overseas sources in the Sunshine Private Foundation of Salzburg.
The cash came from accounts in Mauritius and the Caribbean.
'It is said he did this without the knowledge of the bank,' reported the Munich-based Sueddeutsche Zeitung.
Bayerische LB refused to comment on the probe confirmed by prosecutors in Munich. Gribkowsky is now in custody and being investigated for fraud, money laundering and tax evasion.
Gribkowsky set up the foundation during the time he worked for the bank. What is of most interest to prosecutors is if the cash has anything to do with the Formula One deal that Bayern LB, as it is also known, brokered.
The bank was at the time involved in the marketing rights for motor racing following the collapse of the Leo Kirch media empire, much of which it underwrote to the tune of two billion euros.
Barbara Stockinger, a spokeswoman for the prosecutors, said the probe is reviewing the sale of a stake in a company connected to Formula One motor sports that BayernLB had used as collateral.
'The stake had been sold without being properly evaluated,' said Stockinger.
'According to the current findings, the suspect in turn received $50 million in payments disguised via two consultancy agreements.'
'Was this money a thank you gift from Bernie Ecclestone?' asked Bayerische Rundfunk radio on its website tonight, detailing how the bank initially was at loggerheads with Ecclestone and court proceedings were launched, only to be dropped later.
Racing links: Media reports in Germany said the payment may have come from F1 supremo Bernie Ecclestone, pictured here with driver Lewis Hamilton
Before the F1 rights were sold to CVC Capital Partners, Gribkowsky was a regular in the F1 paddock as the sport's carmakers threatened to split and race in a 'breakaway' series.
Gribkowsky was instrumental in restoring control to F1 chief executive Bernie Ecclestone after the sale to CVC.
The Sueddeutsche also speculates that the money was a whopping 'thank you' from the 80-year-old British billionaire. They confronted him about the source of the money but Gribkowsky gave 'no plausible explanation'.
Searches of his background proved that he neither inherited it or earned it.
Gribkowsky is no stranger to controversy. BayernLB's purchase of 50 per cent of the Austrian bank Hypo Group Alpe Adria for 1.63 billion euros in 2007, and the subsequent re-sale for one euro and nationalisation to avoid a collapse, led to his questioning by prosecutors last year.
Bayern LB reported a net loss in 2008 of 5.1 billion euros, mostly lost in disastrous investments on the American sub-prime mortgage market.
In all the bank has received some 10 billion euros in state bailouts.
More recently a wholly owned property company of the bank financed the building and running of a luxury hotel near where Hitler had his summer house in Berchtesgaden in Bavaria.
The hotel has yet to turn in a profit.
Read more: www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1344357/Landesbanks-Dr-Gerhard-Gribkowsky-arrested-50m-thank-Bernie-Ecclestone.html#ixzz1ABnnrlBa