Ecclestone and German 'bribery' laws

[Jakester]

I was conflicted whether to put this post here or in Racing Biz.

http://www.autoweek.com/article/20140129/F1/140129739

Formula One boss Ecclestone has no plans to buy his way out of bribery trial

Formula One boss Bernie Ecclestone could possibly make a financial payment to get out of a bribery trial in Germany, according to a spokesperson for the prosecutors -- but as of now, the chances of him doing so appear slim.

Court spokeswoman Margarete Noetzel confirmed that, “According to German legal procedure, there is the possibility during the trial to stop the proceedings in return for payment of an agreed sum of money to a charitable institution or the treasury if the accused, the public prosecutors and also the court agrees with it.”

...


It might seem unusual for a court to accept money to settle criminal charges, but in Germany, it is acceptable. In June 2011, engineering group Linde paid $48 million to a German court to settle corruption allegations even though there was no ruling that it had done anything wrong. Four months later, industrial-services provider Ferrostaal did the same thing by paying $203 million to settle bribery charges.

Hmm, doesn't the Ferrostaal situation sound a bit odd...isn't it a bit like paying a bribe to get out of a bribery charge?

[Joe in LA]

I was conflicted whether to put this post here or in Racing Biz.

http://www.autoweek.com/article/20140129/F1/140129739

Formula One boss Ecclestone has no plans to buy his way out of bribery trial





Hmm, doesn't the Ferrostaal situation sound a bit odd...isn't it a bit like paying a bribe to get out of a bribery charge?

Does sort of seem like that, but this is pretty common and quite legal in Germany. I recall at least a couple professional cyclists making payments to avoid criminal charges related to doping. Pay the money, admit nothing and continue your career. Of course the amount has to be agreed by the prosecutor, so its a bit like a plea bargain with a fine being the punishment, rather than jail.

It would seem like the smart thing for Bernie to do--if the prosecutor didn't set the number too high, but Bernie may not want the appearance of it. Of course, if he gets convicted, a payoff deal would have looked pretty good in hindsight.

[Jakester]

I guess we have the same sort of thing in the US at a low level....deferred adjudication. At least at the 'traffic court' level, courts are quite amenable to "don't get another ticket for 30/60/90 days and this ticket disappears...but oh by the way, you will have to pay an administrative fee that is at least equal to the fine you would have had to pay had you plead guilty".

And we certainly have many examples of businesses paying large fines to the government while not admitting any culpability.

What's surprising to me is that in Germany, it appears the 'fine' can be paid to the complainant, not just to the court....maybe I misunderstood.

Per the article, it's speculated that such a 'plea bargain' could cost Bernie in the $400MM range.