U.K. Court Dismisses Charges Against Barclays Over Qatari Capital Raise -- Update
May 21 2018 - 08:58AM
Dow Jones News
By Max Colchester
Barclays PLC said Monday that a British court dismissed charges
brought against the bank over its emergency fundraising from Middle
Eastern investors during the financial crisis.
The decision is a major setback for the U.K.'s Serious Fraud
Office which had spent five years probing how Barclays wooed Qatari
investors to prop up the bank during the 2008 financial market
meltdown. The SFO last summer charged the bank on several counts,
accusing it of lending $3 billion to the State of Qatar to
effectively fund its own bailout. The SFO also probed hundreds of
millions of dollars worth of "advisory services" that was paid by
Barclays to Qatari investors. The payment wasn't initially
disclosed after the capital was raised.
Barclays said the U.K. court rejected charges brought by the
SFO, including that it conspired with former executives to commit
fraud and provided "unlawful financial assistance." The SFO said it
would try to reinstate the charges by applying to a U.K. high-court
judge.
Shares in the bank rose following the news.
The decision doesn't affect the case brought by the SFO against
a cadre of former top Barclays executives involved in the deal. The
SFO has also charged Barclays former chief executive John Varley,
former senior investment-bank executive Roger Jenkins and two other
former executives with conspiracy to commit fraud.
Ten years on from the Qatari bailout Barclays is facing other
legal problems linked to the capital raisings, which saw the bank
raise $15 billion from investors in two cash calls. In a separate
probe, the U.K.'s Financial Conduct Authority imposed a GBP50
million ($67.3 million) fine over the disclosure failures. The
authority said earlier this year it was reviewing the case after
being handed new evidence. Barclays is contesting the fine. The
U.S. Department of Justice and the Securities and Exchange
Commission have also been conducting investigations relating to
payments made to officials around the cash injection.
Separately, PCP Capital Partners, a private-equity group, is
suing Barclays for $1 billion alleging the bank made "sham
payments" to the Qataris and disadvantaged PCP's client, the Abu
Dhabi sovereign-wealth fund, which also participated in the 2008
fundraising. Barclays is defending itself against the claim,
according to a filing.
Write to Max Colchester at max.colchester@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
May 21, 2018 08:43 ET (12:43 GMT)
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