FORMULA One tycoon Bernie Ecclestone revealed his "influence" by calling Fred Goodwin during negotiations about the sale of the business group that owns commercial rights to his motor racing empire, the High Court in London has been told.
Donald Mackenzie, a managing partner of CVC, the private equity firm that controls the sport, said Mr Ecclestone mentioned the then Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) chief executive to him as a possible lender during discussions eight years ago.
Mr Mackenzie told how Mr Ecclestone, the chief executive of the Formula One Group, said he "knew RBS" and called Mr Goodwin, who was the bank's chief executive at the time.
Mr Mackenzie, who is effectively Mr Ecclestone's boss, told judge Mr Justice Newey how the call revealed "Bernie's influence in the world".
Mr Goodwin was stripped of his knighthood in January last year after being criticised over his role in the near collapse of the Edinburgh-based financial institution.
Mr Ecclestone has been accused of making a "corrupt bargain" with a banker in an attempt to stay at the top of Formula One.
A German media company says he entered into a "corrupt agreement" with Gerhard Gribkowsky. Constantin Medien says Mr Ecclestone made the deal eight years ago to facilitate the sale of the Formula One Group to a buyer "chosen" by him. Constantin Medien says it lost out and wants compensation.
Mr Ecclestone says Constantin's claim "lacks any merit" and he denies any "conspiracy".
Philip Marshall, QC, for Constantin, outlined allegations at the start the trial on October 29.
He said Gribkowsky had "assisted" Mr Ecclestone to facilitate the sale of the Formula One Group to a "purchaser chosen by Mr Ecclestone". He said payments totalling about £27 million had been made to Gribkowsky, who had been a "senior ranking official" at a German bank, at the instigation of Mr Ecclestone.
Mr Marshall said the German bank sold its "holding" within the Formula One Group to CVC. He said Constantin had investment rights in the Formula 1 Group and was entitled to proceeds of any sale. He said the bank's investment had been sold "without the normal and proper process" and Constantin had lost out.
Mr Mackenzie was giving evidence about discussions with Mr Ecclestone. He told how the name RBS had cropped up at a meeting.
"I mentioned RBS," said Mr Mackenzie. "He said, 'I know RBS. I'll call the chief executive now' and called Fred Goodwin.
"Goodwin was tracked down by his PA and Bernie said, 'I have got someone in the room who wants to borrow some money from you'."
Mr Mackenzie said Mr Goodwin's interest was "not unhelpful" and added: "It's quite unusual for a chief executive to call a chief executive of a bank. But that reveals Bernie's influence in the world."
Earlier, Mr Mackenzie said he would sack Mr Ecclestone if it emerged the 83-year-old had committed a crime in his dealings with the jailed German banker.
He denied that Mr Ecclestone, who has built Formula One into a global money-spinner over the past four decades, was being kept in his post because of his importance to the business. "If it is proven that Mr Ecclestone has done anything that is criminally wrong, we would fire him," said Mr Mackenzie.
The CVC boss said Mr Ecclestone had apologised for not immediately telling him about a multi-million dollar payment made to Gribkowsky after the German's arrest in January 2011.
Mr Mackenzie recalled a meeting with Mr Ecclestone in February 2011 at which the Formula One head told him of the payment, despite earlier denials.
"He told me he had had a meeting with one of his colleagues who had reminded him he had made payments to Gribkowsky and he apologised for having forgotten this," said Mr Mackenzie.
The case continues.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article