German banker arrested over alleged $50m F1 bribe

A former bank executive has been arrested in Germany for allegedly accepting a $50m bribe in the 2006 sale of a stake in the Formula One’s rights holding company.

Prosecutors in Munich said in a statement the former risk manager of regional public-sector bank BayernLB was taken into custody on charges of corruption and tax fraud.

Gerhard Gribkowsky was in charge of managing the sale of the bank’s F1 stake.

But prosecutors say he led the bank to sell it to CVC Capital Investment “without evaluation of its current value” which, in turn, earned him “two consultancy contracts totalling 50 million dollars” that were paid to accounts in Austria.

The statement alleged Gribkowsky failed to pay taxes on the additional income.