Criminal matters press release on 5 August 2014

Criminal proceedings against Bernard Charles Ec. on account of bribery and incitement to embezzlement (BayernLB director Dr. Gerhard Gr.)

With the consent of the Munich public prosecutors and the defendant, the trial chamber (commercial court) of the Munich district court has decided in todays hearing to temporarily abandon proceedings against Bernard Charles Ec. in accordance with section 153, paragraph 2, sentence 2 of the German code of criminal procedure in return for payment of 99 million US Dollars in favour of the treasury and 1 million US Dollars in favour of the German childrens hospice foundation.

In explanation, the chairman essentially gave the following details: The condition is suitable for getting rid of a criminal prosecution in the public interest. The weight of the possible guilt of the defendant does not stand in the way. On the basis of the evidence heard up to now, the charges could not, in important areas, be substantiated. The trial chamber has considerable doubts that the defendant was actually aware of the witness Dr. Gerhard Gs status as a public official. Accordingly, prosecution of the defendant due to bribery (section 334 of the German criminal code) is not probable as things stand. For the offence of commercial bribery (section 299, paragraph 2 of the German criminal code) the evidence is indeed not yet complete so in this respect it would in any case start with a clearly lower extent of guilt.

Regarding the defendant being accused of incitement to embezzlement it must be taken into consideration that the evidence so far, particularly the witness testimonies, has revealed that the company CVC made a condition of its offer that the defendant kept his position as CEO of Formula 1, which was conveyed in the contract, and took on a personal liability of 100 million US Dollars for the transaction. Without the involvement of the defendant and him taking over the liability it would, according to our current knowledge, not have led to a sale of the shares. On the basis of corroborating witness statements from the sellers side it is further assumed that the sale of the shares to CVC was unexpectedly profitable (a dream result). So, in this respect, a conviction does not seem probable.

In so far as there are any criminal charges which could remain against the defendant, the trial chamber has included in its decision the old age of the defendant, his state of health, the considerable strain arising from the occurrence of hearings in a foreign country with the associated language problems and public attention. The defendant presented himself at every stage of the proceedings, although it was clear that his appearance in court could not readily be enforced. Finally, the acts in acts in question were 9 years ago.

The defendant has one week (until 12.08.2014) after this decision of the chamber to produce the imposed payments totalling 100 million Dollars. Potential civil claims for damages are not covered by the decision. This will be asserted should the situation arise for legal action in a civil court. Upon payment of the money within the stipulated period the proceedings against the defendant will be conclusively abandoned by a written decision without a further trial. The costs of the proceedings will also be decided in this resolution. The treasury regularly has to pay the costs of proceedings, while the defendant has to pay his necessary expenses, including the cost of his lawyers. The decision on the termination of the proceedings is final.