Munich court accepts bribery case against Ecclestone, trial to start in April

Cough cough..

Hahaha tell me about it..

 

So he gets away scott free because he's rich? What a life..

 

To be fair...whats more beneficial to Germany? Paying for the housing, food and care of an old man who might need 10 years of (expensive) medical care whilst he sits in prison (they are obliged to pay for all that stuff) or getting paid 100m to turn a blind eye?

In the end it was only a spot of bribery and not kiddy fiddling or a bit of murdering...

 

Interesting that Bernie avoided a trial for bribery "bribing" the legal system.

Oh well, he´s an old man, maybe it´s better to take the easy money and let it roll.

 

So that's what happened to Michael jackson!!

 

Your arguement makes no sense at all. You're saying BE would have won anyway, so why would he pay 100m?! Even for him that's quite an amount if you're not guilty.

What the others said is right: this is paying your way out of prison and anyone who supports this kind of action should have their heads examined.

To understand what's happening is one thing, to cheer about it is despicable.

 

You might want to look into the US legal system then: many cases, which are on shaky grounds are settled this way, for starters check out tax evasion and tax fraud cases

The German government is doing nothing different from many other Western governments.

The assumption that Bernie would have been convicted for certain is what's tripping you up. He might have won a lengthy trial and paid nothing. This way the govt got a good junk of cash and the German tax payers avoided paying for the trial. And Bernie paid a sum which must hurt.

 

You can be pretty sure that Bernie paid because he knew he was guilty. Also, 100 million is what?: 2% of his fortune?

Of course one thing is being guilty and another one being proven guilty, so it´s not too hard to imagine why the goverment offered this arrangement. In any case, it seems that it´s another sad day for Lady Justice. As usual when Bernie is involved.

 

I don't see it that way.

If a case it worth pursuing in the first place then it should lead to a judgement.

This settlement out of court (common in civil matters, unheard of in a criminal matters) stains the 2 parties: the German judiciary for incompetence mixed with failure to enforce the law. Ecclestone who wasn't declared "not guilty", and therefore leaves under a cloud of suspicion with his reputation in tatters.

But worse, this case proves there is a two-degree application of the law: only the rich can benefit under that system.

 

Depends on what you think that the purpose of the legal system is. If its to resolve differences and rectify inequities then this is a successful outcome. If you think that its there to punish, Bernie may or may not have gotten off lightly.

Granted this was a rich man's punishment but it was also a rich man's crime in that it involved a multi million dollar pay off.

 

He paid the HMRC a few years ago £10m because he was under investigation for 9 years using a legal tax avoidance scheme.

It's probably easier for him to just pay and sleep happier at night rather than going in and out of court for the next 3 years.

 

I don't know much about the german system but from what I briefly read in one of the articles about the trial they mention that you can sidestep the trial if you cough up another $$$$. That seems fundamentally wrong if we consider the basic principles of justice; ie justice must be done and seen to be done. Perhaps one could argue that is an overused aphorism but this is criminal liability we are talking about here. Does this apply to all criminal trials in Germany? Rich can get away with murder if they have deep enough pockets? Surely there must be a limit to it (I don't care enough to have a look) because that is ludicrous. In civil cases where the laws function is to regulate conduct between the parties sure a $ settlement is fine and dandy. But in criminal cases it is much more than that; detterent effect? Accountability for morally reprehensible actions? Public safety? Maybe. But a simple bribery case will never elucidate the idiocy of the rule...white collar crime...it's not real crime, right? But let's just fill the government coffers! Of course they want to take his money. Personally I want the old man to live out his days in jail. It will be good for the sport.

 

Well, here in Portugal Justice it's a very vague thing....you will probably go to jail if you get caugt robbing a bank...but if you are the owner ore on the adminitration board and you robb everything you are pretty much safe....we even have a guy (ex-goverment) who robbed and murdered an old lady and is free...if anyone want's to do a white collor crime this is the place...and opf course, it's possible to keep postponing the veredict untill everything prescribes!! It really is an amazing country, especially if you're a crook or a politician...i forgot theyr the same!!

 

I never said he would win.

I said the prosecutors (and indeed the judge himself if the reports are true) couldn't find the hoped for "smoking gun" that would prove his guilt.

I may be wrong, but my take is they were getting nervous about winning, and hence proposed a settlement rather than take the risk of losing completely.

Cheers,
Ian

 

The Germans took the money and ran. You don't settle for an amount that great unless you really just wanted the money anyway.

 

I did well depends on what you consider a win though, grand scheme of things common sense prevailed IMO.

Besides it costs money to keep folk locked up.

 

I believe Florian said such outcomes are not uncommon in Germany. I'm not sure it stains either party but is rather a somewhat pedantic way of solving such problems.

Further, I don't think Bernie's reputation is in tatters by any means. CVC said they'd can him if he was found guilty. He wasn't, so no canning will occur. Time to move on.

Unfortunately, only the rich benefit under the law in (pretty much) all cases. If you can afford a fancy ass team of attornies your chances of winning go *way* up versus the poor guy with a court appointed defender. Sucks, but that's the way it is and I for one can't come up with a better system.

Cheers,
Ian

 

Interesting exercise.

After doing the math, the fine would represent 32 weeks net take home pay for me.

 

The penny just dropped... this is Sharia Law.

Under Sharia Law, you can escape punishment for a crime, if you compensate the injured party (family of the deceased, the state, etc...). The compensation is determined by the court.

This is the law in may Islamic countries like Saudi Arabia, Iran, Yemen and a few others.
Only the poor have to face the full weight of the law (often death penalty), because they cannot "buy" their crime.

I didn't know that Sharia Law has entered the German judiciary system through the back door, but it surely has !!!

 

If jail time was in the cards, it's morally wrong to pay your way out. No matter how much you try to spin it.
And the party that took BE's money is just as wrong. I haven't followed this case but if the German government gets BE's money it just proves that governments are the biggest thieves.

 

Yes exactly, but surely you already knew that a rotting fish stinks from the head down.

 

Not just Sharia. A similar principle exists in the Old Testament with the exception of murder.

 

I really don't care about what happens to Germany. I just wanted to see if he's really guilty and gets the prison sentence. Thats all.

He bribed his way to win in a bribery trial.

 

The irony is that the Germans get a windfall of 99 million and Bernie gets a tax deduction of 100 million.

 

While many are claiming that, it's quite simply flat out wrong.

This has been confirmed by the court BTW. Why they approached him remains subject to speculation, but those that have followed it closely believe it came down to the their case not going well and they risked him being found not guilty. The judge (the same guy who presided over the Gribkowsky case of course) was expecting to come across a 'smoking gun' in, probably, Gribkowsly's testimony. That didn't happen. In fact;

I guess it makes for better headlines that "he bribed the court", but again, that's not the case.

Cheers,
Ian
http://www.pitpass.com/52218/Ecclestone-says-prosecutors-approached-him-about-settling-bribery-trial