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(Releads with details, comments from tribunal hearing)
By Steve Slater and Alex Chambers
LONDON, Nov 23 (IFR) - Barclays dismissed one of its mostsenior investment bankers as a "direct response" of what he toldthe Serious Fraud Office during an investigation into the bank,his lawyer said in court on Wednesday.
Richard Boath was interviewed by the SFO in a criminalinvestigation over the bank's fundraising from Gulf investorsduring the financial crisis, and is now suing Barclays in a paydispute and for unfair dismissal for whistle blowing.
Boath's lawyer, Jonathan Cohen, told the London employmenttribunal Barclays fired Boath after the SFO handed over itstranscripts of its lengthy interviews with him.
"That's why he was out on his ear," Cohen said.
Boath was co-head of global finance in EMEA, one ofBarclays' most senior bankers, at the time it raised funds withQatar and other investors in 2008. The deal enabled Barclays toavoid taking a state bailout, but has since been criticised astoo generous to the investors and not fully transparent.
The SFO's lawyer confirmed in court it interviewed Boath"under caution" in 2014.
The SFO wants to keep details of that interview private,saying it could prejudice any future charges it could bringagainst people involved in the fundraising.
The application over privacy has bogged down the start ofthe employment tribunal hearing. On the first two days, thejudge and a host of lawyers discussed whether even thediscussion about keeping the hearing private should be heard inprivate or public.
Judge Prichard ruled late on Tuesday that part of thediscussion about privacy should be in public. A decision onwhether the hearing itself is in public or private could be madelater this week or early next week.
Edward Brown, lawyer for the SFO, said: "The seriousness ofthis investigation should not be underestimated."
He said it was complex, potentially involved serious crime,and had taken up a lot of resources.
The SFO has said it expects to decide whether to chargeBarclays and former executives by the end of March.
"The investigation continues and evidence is beinggathered....there are a number who are suspected of criminaloffences," Brown said.
Thomson Reuters, the owner of IFR, is part of a mediaconsortium arguing for the hearing to be held in public.
Cohen said it would be "a travesty" to prevent reporting ofthe case.
He said if the SFO still had to interview any materialwitnesses after four years investigating the case then "ithasn't been doing a very good job".
The investigation centres on commercial agreements betweenBarclays and Qatari investors as part of a capital raising toraise a total of about £12bn at the height of the financialcrisis in 2008, which included a loan by Barclays to Qatar.
Barclays said in 2013 British authorities were investigatingthe bank and four current and former senior employees over thefundraising.
Sources familiar with the matter have said former chiefexecutives Bob Diamond and John Varley have also beeninterviewed by the SFO, and so have former finance directorChris Lucas and former tax advisory boss Roger Jenkins.
Boath, most recently Barclays' chairman of the financialinstitutions group, left the bank in March. (Editing by Matthew Davies)
