Barclays, former bosses, charged over 2008 Qatar fundraising
Barclays and four former senior executives have been criminally charged in a high-profile UK investigation into undisclosed payments to Qatari investors during a 12 billion pound ($15.4 billion) emergency fund raising in 2008.
In a highly anticipated announcement, the Serious Fraud Office (SFO) said on Tuesday it was charging the bank with conspiracy to commit fraud by false representation and unlawful financial assistance.
Barclays said it was considering its position over the charges and awaited further information.
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It also charged Barclays’ former senior executives John Varley, Roger Jenkins, Thomas Kalaris and Richard Boath. The fundraising in 2008 included a $3 billion loan facility made to the wealthy Gulf state in November 2008, the SFO said.
Former chief executive Varley, Jenkins, a former senior investment banker, Kalaris, a former CEO of Barclays’ wealth division and Boath, ex European head of financial institutions, have been charged with conspiracy to commit fraud by false representation during a June 2008 capital raising.
Varley and Jenkins have also been charged with conspiracy to commit fraud by false representation in relation to the October 2008 capital raising.
Varley and Jenkins also face a charge of unlawful financial assistance, the SFO said.
The men are the most senior bankers in Britain to date to be accused by prosecutors of alleged crimes during the financial crisis, which brought the global financial system to its knees and plunged much of the world into recession.
Ex Barclays executive Jenkins to “vigorously defend” himself against charges
Roger Jenkins, a former senior banker at Barclays, will vigorously defend himself against criminal charges filed by the UK Serious Fraud Office (SFO) on Tuesday over the bank’s 2008 emergency fundraising from Qatari investors, his lawyer said.
“As one might expect in the challenging circumstances of 2008, Mr Jenkins sought and received both internal and external legal advice on each and every topic covered by the SFO’s accusations today,” Brad Kaufman, long-time counsel for Jenkins at U.S. law firm Greenberg Traurig, told Reuters.
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