Former Formula One lawyer Stephen Mullens did not attend his planned court appearance at the ongoing trial of Gerhard Gribkowsky this week, with the former colleague of Bernie Ecclestone represented by prior statements instead.
Mullens had been scheduled to give testimony in the trial of Gribkowsky, who is alleged to have taken bribes to ease the sale of a stake in F1 from his former employers BayernLB back in 2006.
The testimony from Mullens would have followed Ecclestone's own time in the Munich courtroom last week.
His planned appearance had been jumped on by intrigued media reports, with Mullens reported to have fallen out with Ecclestone.
But the lawyer failed to appear in court, with Mullens using the right he had to stay away in order to avoid questions "in case he should incriminate himself".
Ecclestone last week admitted making payments of some $44 million to Gribkowsky, but insisted that the money was paid to avoid the banker making allegations to UK authorities regarding Ecclestone's tax affairs.
He denied that the payments were, as the prosecution alleges, in return for the banker undervaluing the BayernLB stake in the sport, when it was purchased by current owners CVC Capital Partners.
Instead of attending in person, Mullens was represented by prior statements he made during the initial investigation by prosecutors.
According to the UK Daily Telegraph report, those statements saw him "largely corroborate" Ecclestone's take on the payments.
However, the statements claim that Mullens only heard about "threats" made by Gribkowsky from Ecclestone's ex-wife, not from Ecclestone himself.
Ecclestone's tax affairs are set to be investigated by HM Revenue & Customs in the UK anyway, with the interest being in the offshore Bambino Holdings company.
If this family fund has Ecclestone as a controlling interest, he may be liable to sizeable UK tax payments.
The trial of Gribkowsky in Munich continues.
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