Ecclestone bribery trial date delayed

Munich prosecutors on Friday delayed setting a date for Bernie Ecclestone\'s bribery trial until next year. \"The judges did not want to put themselves under pressure by making a decision that was too hasty,\" Margarete Noetzel, spokesperson for the Munich state court, told news agency SID, a subsidiary of AFP. The 82-year-old Ecclestone could face a prison sentence after being charged by Munich prosecutors in July in relation to a $44 million (33.6 million euro, £29 million) payment he made to German banker Gerhard Gribkowsky which was linked to the sale. Last month, Gribkowsky was sentenced to eight-and-a-half years in jail. Ecclestone has always denied bribing the German to avoid a British tax inquiry into the sale of F1, claiming he was blackmailed by Gribkowsky. \"I paid because he threatened to go to the Inland Revenue,\" Ecclestone said at the time. From: AFP