LONDON (Alliance News) - A jury heard of how former Barclays PLC Chief Executive John Varley and three senior colleagues lied to the market in official documents detailing two emergency fundraisings during the financial crisis in 2008, The Financial Times reported Wednesday.
The fundraisings allowed the FTSE 100-listed lender to avoid a tax payer bailout, a fate peers Royal Bank of Scotland Group PLC and Lloyds Banking Group PLC could not avoid.
Varley is the first CEO from a major bank to be taken to court over actions taken during the financial crisis a decade ago.
According to the FT, the jury was instructed to put out of their minds any preconceptions they might have about bankers and their value to society during the trial, which could last up to six months.
Varley, and his alleged co-conspirators, are accused of funnelling secret fees of more than GBP320 million to Qatari investors in exchange for more than GBP4 billion in investment.
The UK Serious Fraud Office described the act as a desperate attempt to keep the bank afloat.
Barclays raised GBP11 billion from two fundraisings in 2008, dubbed Project Birdcage, mainly from investors from Qatar, China, Singapore and Abu Dhabi.
The secret fees were paid to a Qatar sovereign wealth fund through side deals known as advisory services agreements.
The SFO alleges the payments were merely "dishonest mechanisms" designed to hide the fact that the bank had yielded to Qatar's demands for more commission than other investors.
"Additional commission fees for investing were paid to the Qataris, say the Crown; additional commission fees that were not paid to other investors and were not revealed," Edward Brown QC for the SFO told the jury on the opening day of trial at Southwark Crown Court.
The trial continues.
https://www.ft.com/content/60ee842c-1f0a-11e9-b126-46fc3ad87c65
Shares in Barclays were up 0.7% Thursday at 164.00 pence each.
Barclays (BARC)