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By Kirstin Ridley
LONDON, June 9 (Reuters) - Barclays has dismissed
as "distorted and exaggerated" legal arguments by financier
Amanda Staveley, who is claiming up to 1.5 billion pounds in
damages for alleged deceit over a financial crisis-era
fundraising in a high-profile London trial.
Staveley's PCP Capital Partners alleges Barclays reneged on
written and oral representations that it would get the same
terms as Qatar during a 7.3 billion pound ($9.3 billion)
emergency cash call in October 2008 that allowed the British
bank to avoid a state bailout.
The High Court battle, broadcast online, turns the spotlight
back on Barclays' arrangements with Qatar four months after
three senior Barclays executives were acquitted of fraud in a
case revolving around advisory service agreements (ASA) struck
with Qatar in 2008.
PCP alleges that Qatar had received 346 million pounds in
extra fees, including a 280 million pound "sham" ASA, and a $3.0
billion loan from Barclays that almost matched the amount the
Gulf state was investing.
Qatar said after the February fraud trial that two ASAs with
Barclays, agreed in 2008, were genuine.
PCP also alleges that if it had known about the Qatar deal,
it would have negotiated extra fees or revised terms and would
have kept a 10% interest in the funding deal -- which it gave up
to keep Abu Dhabi investors on board that November.
Barclays' lawyer Jeffery Onions told the trial on Tuesday
that Staveley's case bore little or no relationship to the
facts, alleging that the ASA and loan were separate commercial
agreements.
Onions alleged that to suggest PCP was also an investor in
its own right had been "crafted and embellished in order to
justify the enormous claim". "PCP was a middleman," he alleged.
PCP, which led a group that invested about 3.25 billion
pounds in Barclays in 2008, was paid 30 million pounds in April
2009 for its work.
Staveley is currently fronting another group, that includes
Saudi sovereign wealth fund PIF and billionaire brothers David
and Simon Reuben, that is negotiating a takeover bid for Premier
League side Newcastle United.
($1 = 0.7850 pounds)
(Reporting by Kirstin Ridley. Editing by Jane Merriman)
