German prosecutors challenge Ecclestone's 'blackmailed' bribery claims

Formula One boss Bernie Ecclestone claims that he had been blackmailed into paying the 45 million-dollar bribe to a German banker have been challenged by German prosecutors in his bribery trial.

Prosecutors informed the Munich court that Ecclestone had never been able to provide firm details to back up his claims.

According to the BBC, Ecclestone, who has been accused of bribing German banker Gerhard Gribkowsky to secure the sale of a stake in the Formula One business to a company he favoured, said that he had been effectively the victim of blackmail because the banker threatened to reveal false details of his tax affairs.

However, public prosecutor Martin Bauer, who took evidence from Ecclestone after Gribkowsky's arrest in 2011, informed the court that it had been never really clear what form this threat could have taken.

Bauer said that the Formula One boss had reportedly spoken merely of Gribkowsky being able to make things uncomfortable for him without specifying how.

Gribkowsky is serving a jail sentence for receiving the payment from Ecclestone and the formula one boss is under trial for bribery charges and could face up to 10 years in jail if he is found guilty, the report added.