|
|
10 Nov 2011
FORMULA ONE boss Bernie Ecclestone paid a German banker millions of pounds to protect himself from a potentially "extremely expensive" UK tax investigation.
Ecclestone was called as a witness to the German trial of Gerhard Gribkowsky, the banker who denies a number of fraud and tax evasion charges relating to the sale of Formula One in 2005.
Further reading
A £27m payment made by Ecclestone to Gribkowsky was to stop him from passing false claims to the UK taxman – as opposed to a bung to push the F1 sale through, reported the Daily Mail.
The payment would stop Gribkowsky from making false accusations to the UK taxman about Ecclestone's ‘Bambino trust' for his ex-wife Slavica
"I was under the impression that he might have given some information to the Revenue in England, which I did not know much about," Ecclestone claimed. "If he had done and the Revenue had investigated and been successful, it would have been extremely expensive."
You may also like
Search thousands of financial jobs:
Search thousands of financial jobs:
Careers
Search for jobs
Click to search our database of all the latest accountancy roles
Create a profile
Click to set up your profile and let the best recruiters find you
Jobs by email
Sign up to receive regular updates with the latest roles suitable for you
Briefings
By looking at the reasons supplier statements became unfashionable, and the reasons why it is different today, this paper delves into the many benefits that can be obtained by automating the process.
Having a real and true view of your organisation’s current financial position, and having the right systems and processes in place, will ensure that you can make strong choices and are ready to capitalise on opportunities
AccountancyAgeInsight is a frequently updated resource centre for finance professionals, offering a free and easy-to-use digital library of briefings, white papers and other information resources. 
Visitor comments Add your comment
Hmm....
So it was cheaper to pay £27m in blackmail that risk a tax investigation where no additional tax liabilities would be found and therefore his only costs would be professional fees?
Posted by: Chicken Farmer, 10 Nov 2011 | 12:56