Bernie Ecclestone says he knew he was innocent

Zee Media Bureau

New Delhi: Formula One boss, Bernie Ecclestone says that he knew he was innocent and the much publicised bribery trial never bothered him. He is attending first post-trial race weekend at the historic Spa-Francorchamps circuit for the 2014 Belgian Grand Prix. Talking to BBC at the sidelines of the Belgian GP, Ecclestone said that "I`m not scared of anything to be honest with you. It (trial) never bothered me because I knew I was innocent." The 83-year-old Briton was accused of paying German banker Gerhard Gribkowsky GBP 26m in connection with the sale of F1 rights to CVC. The three-month long bribery trial at Munich ended in the first week of August with Ecclestone paying GBP 60m, and thus avoided a possible10-year prison sentence. About the trial, he said "I was never bothered about the jail sentence because I was sure it wouldn`t happen. The system in law is pretty fair. Every now and again they get things wrong but normally, unless there`s some political motive, it`s all OK.” He also hailed the German law system for getting rid of unwanted things. "Because there`s a system in Germany which allows you to do that. It gets rid of things,” he added. Further, justifying the GBP 60m payment for the closure of the case, he explained "It could have gone on. If they`d won, I`d have appealed. If I`d won they`d have appealed. It would have gone on until next year. I just had to pay to get rid of the case, that`s all." With Agency inputs