A case brought by the UK’s Serious Fraud Office (SFO) involving three former Barclays bankers and a Qatari sovereign wealth fund has ended with the defendants cleared of all charges by the jury.
The executives in the dock, Roger Jenkins, Tom Kalaris and Richard Boath, were accused of paying £322 million in secret fees to the Qatari Investment Authority, which was headed by the prime minister of the time Sheikh Hamad bin Jassim bin Jaber al-Thani.
The fees, known as advisory services agreements (ASAs), allegedly helped Barclays secure £4 billion in funding from the Qataris which allowed the bank avoid a government bailout in the wake of the financial crisis.
The SFO alleged that the ASAs also enabled the Qataris to buy Barclays stock at a reduced price which was not available to other investors. The lawyers for Barclays argued that the fees were genuine, approved by the bank and designed to further the banks’ presence in the Middle East.
The case was the first in the UK to examine the behaviour of top executives during the financial crisis. It was also the first case to involve the chief executive of a bank, John Varley, although he was cleared of charges back in July 2019
The SFO spent seven years and £10 million building its case. The jury sat through a five month trial but took less than six hours to reach their verdict.
Sheikh Hamad, who was not accused of any wrongdoing, issued a statement following the verdict. “Out of respect for the due processes of English law, Sheikh Hamad and the other Qatari parties did not seek to intervene during the course of the trial to correct those errors of fact and misleading interpretations that appeared to be given currency in some quarters.
“The Qatari parties always anticipated that the retrial would show this claim to be untrue and they are of course pleased that this has happened and that the true position has now been made entirely clear.”
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