LONDON, Jan 31 (Reuters) - British authorities are lookinginto an allegation that Barclays loaned Qatar money toinvest in the bank as part of its rescue fundraising at theheight of the 2008 financial crisis, the Financial Timesreported.
Qatar Holding is not accused of any wrongdoing, the FT said.
The Financial Services Authority (FSA) and Serious FraudOffice (SFO) have been looking into Barclays' emergencyfundraising since July.
Qatar Holding invested 5.3 billion pounds ($8.4 billion) inBarclays in June and October 2008, helping it avoid being bailedout by the government, unlike rivals Lloyds Banking Group and Royal Bank of Scotland.
Allegations over a loan to the Qataris is a new thread ofthe investigation, the FT said, citing two sources familiar withthe situation.
A Barclays spokeswoman said: "Both the FSA and SFOinvestigations are on-going and, as such, we are unable tocomment further."
The FSA and SFO both declined to comment.
New Barclays chief executive Antony Jenkins has been tryingto restore the bank's reputation after a string of scandals,including a $450 million fine in June for rigging Libor interestrates that prompted the resignations of previous CEO Bob Diamondand chairman Marcus Agius.
The deal with Qatar was controversial from the outset.Shareholders were angry Qatar was offered more attractive termsto invest than existing investors, and a sale of warrants inNovember left Qatar sitting on a gain of 1.7 billion pounds fromits investment, according to Reuters estimates.
Qatar Holding, part of Qatar Investment Authority, which wasset up by the state in 2005 to diversify investments away fromoil and gas into new assets, is the bank's biggest shareholderwith a 6.7 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.