Attack on Ecclestone 'engineering'

THE battle for management control of Formula One motor racing continues in the High Court today with three banks fighting Bernie Ecclestone accusing him of wrongly appointing directors to the firm that controls the sport.

They want a summary judgment which would loosen his grip on F1, arguing he has wielded an undue level of influence over Formula One Holdings (FOH) - the day-to-day controller of the sport - through his family trust Bambino Holdings, and want to overhaul the board.

Bayerische Landesbank, JP Morgan and Lehman Brothers obtained a majority 75% stake in FOH after lending $1.6bn (£861m) to the former owner, collapsed German media giant Kirch. Bambino owns 25% of FOH.

The banks argue Bambino exhausted its appointment rights at FOH when Ecclestone and his adviser Stephen Mullens joined the seven-person board and that two other directorships - of Luc Argand and Emmanuele Argand-Rey - are invalid.

Bambino claims Ecclestone and Mullens were appointed before the shareholders' agreement was signed, and that the two extra appointments were therefore valid.

Elizabeth Jones QC, for the banks, said that by further amending the Articles of Association of companies owned by FOH to allow a maximum of three directors, two of whom are Ecclestone and Mullens, Bambino had 'engineered control of the operating companies within the group'.

Bambino says this was done in the best interests of F1.

The case continues.