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| Ecclestone to face bribery charges | Ecclestone to face bribery charges |
| (35 minutes later) | |
| Formula 1 boss Bernie Ecclestone will be tried on bribery charges, a court in Munich has ruled. | |
| Mr Ecclestone is accused of making a $45m bribe to a German banker, Gerhard Gribkowsky, who is serving a jail sentence for receiving the payment. | |
| Prosecutors allege that the payment was to ensure that F1 was sold to a private equity group of Mr Ecclestone's choice. | |
| The F1 boss admits paying Gribkowsky but denies bribery, claiming he was effectively the victim of blackmail. | |
| Mr Ecclestone has been defending himself in a £90m ($147m) civil claim in London's High Court. | |
| That case was brought by a German media company, Constantin Medien, who claim they lost out financially when the sport was sold in 2006 to private equity group CVC. | |
| Mr Ecclestone and Gribkowsky, who was on the board of German bank Bayern Landesbank, were accused in court of conspiring to deliberately undervalue F1 when it was sold, in order that Mr Ecclestone would retain control of the sport. | |
| A statement from Bavaria's district court said that a trial date had not yet been set, but that proceedings were likely to begin in late April. |