Financial News

Barclays Bosses Face Fraud Charges Over Qatar Dealings

Four former bosses at Barclays are the first executives to face charges over the way they handled the financial crisis for the company almost 10 years ago.

Barclays was the only British bank that said no to a government bail out in the financial crisis.

Instead, the bank looked for private capital and borrowed £7.3 billion from state-owned fund Qatar Holdings and other Middle Eastern investors.

After investigating for five years, the Serious Fraud Office (SFGO) has decided that dealings between Barclays and investors in Qatar that led to the bank raising  private funding worth billions were illegal.

Now, the SFO has revealed four former executives will face charges alongside Barclays Bank plc.

The charges

They are ex-CEO John Varley, Roger Jenkins, former executive chairman of investment banking and investment management in the Middle East and North Africa, Barclays Capital; Thomas Kalaris, former chief executive of Barclays wealth and investment management, and Richard Boath, former European group head of Barclays.

The charges relate to conspiracy to commit fraud by misrepresentation and unlawful financial assistance.

The defendants will appear  at Westminster Magistrates Court on July 3.

The suspicion is charges have been framed against Barclays Bank plc, the holding company rather than the business running the bank’s day-to-day trading to encourage a guilty plea.

Then, the SFO can impose a fine likely to run into hundreds of millions of pounds to cover the cost of the inquiry and to give the bank a slap on the wrist.

Alleged ‘sweetener’ for non-existent advice

If charges were brought against the operating company, Barclays would lose the chance to do business in the USA and other countries, who bar companies involved in criminal proceedings from bidding for contracts.

The investigation centred around a payment of £332 million to Qatar Holdings, which  Barclays is accused of paying as a deal sweetener described as advice that never existed and a £2 billion loan from the bank to Qatar Holdings allegedly allowing the bank to lend money to itself to buy Barclays shares.

Barclays, Qatar Holdings and the SFO have declined to say more about the case now charges have been laid.

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