Former Barclays CEO John Varley in Court on Fraud Charges
July 03 2017 - 01:47PM
Dow Jones News
By Max Colchester
LONDON -- Former Barclays PLC Chief Executive John Varley and
three other former executives appeared in a West London court
Monday to face fraud charges over deals struck to secure emergency
Mideast funding during the financial crisis.
Lawyers representing Mr. Varley and Roger Jenkins, a former
senior Barclays investment banker, said their clients intended to
plead not guilty to the charges. A lawyer representing Barclays,
which was also charged, said the bank hadn't yet come to a decision
on its own position.
Britain's Serious Fraud Office has spent five years
investigating how Barclays wooed Qatari investors to prop up the
bank. In total, Barclays raised GBP11.8 billion ($15 billion) from
investors through two emergency cash calls in June and October
2008. Its examination has focused on GBP322 million in "advisory
services" that were paid to Qatari investors as part of the cash
injection, an agreement that wasn't initially disclosed to
shareholders. The SFO also scrutinized a $3 billion loan facility
to the state of Qatar made by Barclays just weeks after the October
equity raise.
On Monday, a judge said Mr. Jenkins and Thomas Kalaris, a former
Barclays executive who worked alongside him on the Qatari capital
injections, would have to post GBP500,000 bail. Mr. Varley and
Richard Boath, who headed the bank's European financial
institutions group, were granted unconditional bail. The trial will
now be heard in a South London court starting July 17.
The Serious Fraud Office charged the four men and Barclays with
conspiracy to commit fraud. Messrs. Varley and Jenkins, along with
the bank, were charged with providing unlawful financial assistance
in connection with the $3 billion loan. English law forbids a
company from giving someone money to buy its shares.
Mr. Boath has previously said he would fight the charges. Mr.
Kalaris's lawyer previously declined to comment.
Write to Max Colchester at max.colchester@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
July 03, 2017 13:32 ET (17:32 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2017 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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