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* UK probes whether bank lent Qatar money to buy shares- FT
* Barclays declines comment on ongoing investigations
* Barclays pay under scrutiny after rate rigging scandal
By Steve Slater and Matt Scuffham
LONDON, Feb 1 (Reuters) - Barclays Chief ExecutiveAntony Jenkins has opted not to take a bonus for 2012, saying heshould "bear an appropriate degree of accountability" for thedifficult year the British bank endured.
Jenkins is trying to restore Barclays' reputation since therevelation of its role in a global interest rate rigging scandalled to a $450 million fine and the departure of his predecessorBob Diamond.
Those efforts are unlikely to be a straight road.
The Financial Times reported on Friday that Britishauthorities are looking into an allegation that Barclays lentQatar money to invest in it as part of a rescue fundraising atthe height of the 2008 financial crisis.
UK rules forbid a public company from giving financialassistance in order to acquire its shares or those of a parentcompany.
A Barclays spokeswoman said: "Both the FSA and SFOinvestigations are ongoing and, as such, we are unable tocomment further".
The FSA, SFO and Qatar Holding declined to comment.
Jenkins, who became CEO in August, said he did not want tobe considered for a bonus after a difficult year for the bankand its stakeholders.
"I think it only right that I bear an appropriate degree ofaccountability for those matters," he said in a statement.
He said he was aware of considerable speculation about hisbonus and wanted to avoid "further unnecessary public debate".His annual salary as CEO is 1.1 million pounds and he could havereceived an annual bonus of up to 2.75 million.
The issue of pay at Barclays and other banks is set to flareagain next week when Jenkins, Barclays Chairman David Walker andtheir counterparts at Lloyds and HSBC are quizzed onpay by UK lawmakers.
RBS CEO Stephen Hester said last June he would waive hisbonus for 2012 following a computer systems failure which causeddisruption to millions of its customers.
ANGRY SHAREHOLDERS
Qatar Holding, which according to the FT is not accused ofany wrongdoing, invested 5.3 billion pounds ($8.4 billion) inBarclays in June and October 2008, helping it avoid a governmentbailout, unlike rivals Lloyds Banking Group and RoyalBank of Scotland.
The Financial Services Authority (FSA) and Serious FraudOffice (SFO) have been looking into the investment since July.Allegations of a loan to the Qataris are a new thread of theinvestigation, the FT said, citing two sources familiar with thesituation.
The deal with Qatar was questioned from the outset.Shareholders were angry it was offered more attractive termsthan existing investors. A sale of warrants in November leftQatar sitting on a gain of 1.7 billion pounds from itsinvestment, according to Reuters estimates.
Qatar Holding, part of the Qatar Investment Authority, whichwas set up by the state in 2005 to diversify its investmentsaway from oil and gas, is the bank's biggest shareholder with a6.7 percent stake.
Barclays said in August that Britain's fraud prosecutors hadlaunched a criminal probe into payments between the bank andQatar, a month after revealing the FSA's investigation intodealings between the two parties.
It said the FSA probe was into the bank and four current andformer senior employees, including finance director Chris Lucas.Sources have said another is Roger Jenkins, the main architectof the Qatar fundraising who left Barclays in early 2009 and isnow at Brazilian investment bank BTG Pactual.
Neither Lucas nor Jenkins immediately responded to requestsfor comment.
Barclays said in July when it first disclosed theinvestigation that it considered it had satisfied its disclosureobligations.
