BBc Panorama program

[vintly]

This looks a giggle:

Bernie Ecclestone: Lies, Bribes and Formula One
Monday 28th April, 8:30pm BBC1

Bernie Ecclestone has dominated Formula One motor racing for forty years and made billions from the sport. But two courts say he paid a $44m bribe, a judge recently concluded that it was 'impossible to regard him as a reliable or truthful witness', and he may have avoided a billion pounds of UK tax. Panorama's Darragh Macintyre investigates the truth about the boss of F1, Bernie Ecclestone, and asks why he is still in charge.

[Scott]

Oh, can't wait for that one to get to the net...   

[Irisado]

I think that I'll sit down and watch that.  Thanks Vintly.

[Vince]

Sky+'d it - looking forward to reading between the lines... I wonder how honest the program will be... Or has Bernie's deep pockets *ahem* affected the outcome of that too?   

[Scott]

I watched it.  A bit of a fluff piece if you ask me, but what can you really squeeze into 30min anyhow?

More news on the trial, it appears Bernie had a bad day in court:

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-27264129

Looking like his claim of blackmail is as thin as it first sounded, and the German prosecutor is not giving it much credibility.

[John S]

Looking like his claim of blackmail is as thin as it first sounded, and the German prosecutor is not giving it much credibility.

Well they have to don't they - since they've locked up Gribkowsky for taking a bribe - how can they be expected to now accept that the money paid as a blackmail payoff? 

Having this same court try this case seems to create a potential for a miscarriage of justice, at the very least it should leave any judgment open to appeal.

I can see this ending up in Ian's favourite court - European Court of Human Rights - with Bernie claiming his human rights have been violated by not accepting his word. 

 

[Ian]

John  Don't get me started on that again. 

[Scott]

The Germans have a different justice system than much of the western world (so does Switzerland for that matter) in that you are assumed guilty until you can prove your innocence, so the onus is on the defence, not the prosecution. 

[Irisado]

It won't end up in the European Court of Human Rights, you can all rest easy on that one .

As for the Panorama investigation, yes it was superficial in places, and I wanted more details, but they had a lot to pack into thirty minutes.  I think that Ecclestone has a case to answer, and that things don't look good for him.  I hope that they do throw the book at him, and that he loses control of Formula 1, but they need to ensure that the evidence really is compelling, which means digging a lot deeper than Panorama did.