Formula 1: Sport's ex-chief Bernie Ecclestone faces fraud trial next October
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Bernie Ecclestone had allegedly failed to declare more than £400 million of overseas assets to the British government.
PHOTO: REUTERS
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LONDON - Former Formula One supremo Bernie Ecclestone will stand trial in October next year on charges of failing to declare a multi-million pound trust in Singapore to the British tax services, a judge in London said on Tuesday.
Ecclestone, 91, was charged in July over an alleged failure to declare more than £400 million (S$650 million) of overseas assets to the British government, accusations he denies.
The indictment says he dishonestly told HM Revenue and Customs that he "established only a single trust" in favour of his daughters and that "other than the trust established for his daughters he was not the settlor nor beneficiary of any trust in or outside the UK".
He appeared at London's Southwark Crown Court on Tuesday, arriving in the back of a white Range Rover. He wore glasses, a dark grey three-piece suit, white shirt and grey tie as he sat in court, unusually taking a position behind his lawyers rather than in the dock due to his hearing difficulties.
His wife Fabiana watched from the public gallery as judge Deborah Taylor fixed the trial date for Oct 9, 2023, saying it could last up to six weeks.
The British businessman, whose financial net worth has been estimated at some US$3 billion (S$4.3 billion), is widely credited with transforming F1 commercially.
His control of the sport developed from the sale of television rights in the 1970s and he was chief executive of the Formula One Group until January 2017. Then, he was ousted as the sport's supremo when US-based Liberty Media took over the sport's commercial rights.
The Crown Prosecution Service, which brings charges in England and Wales, said it brought the case for "fraud by false representation" after a "complex and worldwide" investigation by HM Revenue and Customs.
He maintains an office in London but now spends most of his time abroad, with residences in Switzerland and Ibiza as well as a farm in Brazil. AFP, REUTERS
