Former Brabham and Formula 1-owner Bernie Ecclestone confessed to committing fraud in a London court hearing today. The 92 year old failed to declare £400 million (approximately $650 million at the time) he held in a trust in Singapore to the UK tax authorities, thus evading tax.
Appearing for the Southwark Crown Court he changed his plea to “I plead guilty“, in contrast to his previous plea of ‘not guilty’. The billionaire was about to go on trial next month after an investigation by HM Revenues and Customs [HMRC], to whom he previously made false statements about the amount of foreign trusts, as he “established only a single trust” for his daughters.
When investigated by the HMRC he denied having links to any other trusts “in or outside the UK”, which now has proven to be false. According to prosecutor Richard Wright KC Ecclestone knowingly had given a false statement: “That answer was untrue or misleading. Mr Ecclestone knew his answer may have been untrue or misleading.
“As of 7 July 2015, Mr Ecclestone did not know the truth of the position, so was not able to give an answer to the question. Mr Ecclestone was not entirely clear on how ownership of the accounts in question were structured.
“He therefore did not know whether it was liable for tax, interest or penalties in relation to amounts passing through the accounts.”
The previous owner of Formula 1’s commercial rights now has completely turned around on this statement, confessing he has made a false statement and indeed was due taxes over the money in the Singaporean trust.
“Mr Ecclestone recognises it was wrong to answer the questions he did because it ran the risk that HMRC would not continue to investigate his affairs.
“He now accepts that some tax is due in relation to these matters.”
