French anti-corruption body looks at FIA stake in F1

France's anti-corruption Parquet National Financier is allegedly taking a look at a potential conflict of interest associated with the FIA's decision to green-light the sale of F1 to Liberty Media.

According to the New York Times, French authorities are seeking information on the deal pertaining to the governing body's role as an arbitrator of the sale of F1 to Liberty while it was also a shareholder of F1.

Indeed, the FIA was awarded an option to buy a 1 percent interest in the sport by previous commercial rights holder CVC in 2013, upon the completion of the latest Concorde Agreement negotiated with F1's teams by Bernie Ecclestone.

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The FIA denies it was a conflict of interest however.

"We are entirely confident that any investigation would find that the FIA has acted appropriately at all times, and we stand ready and willing to cooperate with any enquiries should any investigation be commenced or clarification sought by the appropriate authorities," the governing body said.

Allegations of a conflict of interest by the FIA are nothing new, have risen to the surface earlier this year with many considering the affair is hardly as important as some are making it out to be.

The FIA's dealings prompted however Britain's Serious Fraud Office to review the deal earlier this year, although to date no conclusion or evidence of wrong-doing has been released.

"This is what they wanted in order for them to go along with it," Bernie Ecclestone told New York Times reporter, Tariq Panja.

"A lot of things happen in business that if you look at it you can't understand why it is allowed to happen.

"Somebody said to me there's a problem," he added. "I think in the end people were part of it in France and they'll have a look at these things if they think it's wrong."

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