Bernie Ecclestone takes swipe at Germans with Christmas card

ByReuters

Updated 18/12/2014 at 13:32 GMT

Formula One supremo Bernie Ecclestone has revisited his German bribery trial in a mischievous Christmas card depicting himself handing over $100 million to a masked highwayman pointing a pistol at him.

Bernie Ecclestone Trial - Munich, 05/08/2014

Image credit: AFP

"This is not a robbery. I am collecting for the Bavarian state," says the cartoon figure on horseback as Ecclestone holds the sack of money.

In a further greeting inside the card sent to Reuters, Ecclestone added another tongue-in-cheek comment to further stoke the fires.

"Maybe now we can have a Formula One race in the really nice city of Munich, Germany."

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Ecclestone card tweet

Ecclestone paid $100 million (£64m) in August under the terms of a settlement agreement with prosecutors to end the bribery trial in Munich.

The agreement meant Ecclestone, now 84, preserved his innocence and was spared the prospect of a lengthy trial.

He had one week to pay the money -- $99 million to the state and $1 million to a children's charity -- and did so.

Ecclestone had been accused of channelling cash to jailed BayernLB banker Gerhard Gribkowsky to smooth the sale of a major stake in Formula One to private equity fund CVC, now the largest shareholder in the business.

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