A former Barclays chief executive and three senior executives have gone on trial for fraud related to raising billions of pounds from Qatar at the height of the financial crisis.
Ex-CEO John Varley, 62, and former colleagues – Roger Jenkins, 63, Tom Kalaris, 63, and 60-year-old Richard Boath – allegedly raised £11.8bn in emergency fundraising in 2008.
The deal - which allowed the bank to avoid taking a taxpayer bailout - was the subject of a five-year investigation by the Serious Fraud Office.
The four all deny conspiracy to commit fraud by false representation between May 1, 2008 and August 31, 2008 in relation to the emergency fundraising which allowed Barclays to avoid a government bailout.
Investors who contributed include Qatar Holdings, an arm of the Gulf state’s sovereign wealth fund. Qatar has not been accused of wrongdoing.
Varley and Jenkins deny a second count of conspiracy to commit fraud by false representation in relation to the October 2008 capital-raising.
Twelve jurors and two substitute jurors have now been selected to try the four with Ed Brown, QC, set to open the case for the Serious Fraud Office tomorrow (weds).
Varley was chief executive of Barclays until the end of 2010. Jenkins left Barclays in 2009 and is now based in Malibu, California.
Kalaris, a London-based US citizen, ran the wealth management arm of Barclays while Boath was in charge of the bank’s European financial institutions group.
