NFR: One law for the rich ......

[The Equalizer]

I'm sure it's valid under German law. It's certainly not the way it's done in England. I can't speak about other jurisdictions.

Simply throwing money at the Court in exchange for them dropping charges seems medieval to me but what do I know.

Oh I don't know. Someone in the UK recently requested a trial by combat during the court proceedings.

[The Old Count]

Of course but it leads to a guilty verdict.

That isn't a prerequisite under German law.

Are you suggesting the law should be changed for this one case or should be amended for similar cases in future because of this one case, where you don't happen to like the defendant?

I neither like or dislike Bernie.  I was just commenting on the irony of effectively bribing a court to get off a bribery charge.

Sorry you didn't get that.

[Berserker]

This reminds me of the scene in Oliver Twist where the Duke tramples a child with his chariots and then tosses the father a gold coin as compensation.

I didn't think they had chariots in London at the time of Dickens?

[Berserker]

By the way my Great Grandad was a street urchin in London

[Burt]

By the way my Great Grandad was a street urchin in London

Mine was shipped off to Australia

[Forever Fulham]

From a website called F1pulse:


Home \ news
Prosecutors will accept ending Ecclestone trial for $100 million
© AP, 5 August 2014
© AP Photo/MTI, Zsolt Czegledi

*     *     *

German prosecutors said Tuesday that they will accept dropping the bribery case against Bernie Ecclestone in exchange for a $100 million payment by the Formula One boss, and judges were considering whether to close his trial.

Ecclestone went on trial at the Munich state court in late April on charges of bribery and incitement to breach of trust -- which could, if he were convicted, carry a sentence of up to ten years in prison.

The charges involve a $44 million payment to German banker Gerhard Gribkowsky, who is serving an eight and a half year sentence for taking the money. Gribkowsky was convicted of corruption, tax evasion and breach of trust in a trial led by the same judge who is hearing Ecclestone's case.

The 83-year-old Ecclestone denies wrongdoing and says Gribkowsky, who was in charge of selling German bank BayernLB's 47 percent stake in F1 in 2005, blackmailed him.

Last week, his defence team called for proceedings to be closed, citing a lack of evidence that Ecclestone was criminally responsible and asserting that the proceedings were a strain for their client. He has been running Formula One while attending twice-weekly court sessions in Munich.

German law allows for prosecutors to agree to drop a case in exchange for conditions such as a fine or community work, so long as "the gravity of guilt" does not stand in the way.

Such deals, which have to be approved by the court hearing the case, are common in Germany though they rarely involve anything close to the amount of money Ecclestone would pay. Fines are geared toward the assets of the defendant.

Ecclestone's lawyers and prosecutors have been in talks over the past week. Prosecutor Christian Weiss said in court Tuesday that they accepted an arrangement that would see Ecclestone pay $100 million, news agency DPA reported.

Weiss said that closing the trial would be justified in view of the long proceedings, Ecclestone's age and other extenuating circumstances. Ecclestone said that he could pay the money within a week.

[Logicalman]

I'm sure it's valid under German law. It's certainly not the way it's done in England. I can't speak about other jurisdictions.

Simply throwing money at the Court in exchange for them dropping charges seems medieval to me but what do I know.

What I don't fully understand is the idea of being in a Union, as is the EU, then there should be some level of similarity for Justice and how it is metered out. I appreciate, there will always be some 'states rights' as there is in the US, but unlike in the US, I honestly felt the EU would disable the ability to 'shop about'. Though this case does not particularly represent that it still seems too archaic that one state can have such a law still in place that has not been overruled or superseded by some order from Brussels.