anything to avoid opening the books !!!
Barclays are charged with fraud and unlawfully helping Qatar Barclays and four former senior executives have been charged by prosecutors with conspiracy to commit fraud and providing unlawful assistance to Qatar. The charges relate to deals to raise capital at the height of the financial crisis that helped the bank avoid a taxpayer-funded bailout. John Varley, the bank’s former chief executive, Roger Jenkins, the former head of Barclays’ Middle East business, Tom Kalaris, the former head of wealth management, and Richard Boath, the former head of bank’s financial institutions group, were this morning charged with conspiracy to commit fraud by false representation relating to a deal in June 2008. The Serious Fraud Office also took the unprecedented step of charging the bank itself over the making of a $3 billion loan to Qatar in 2008 that is alleged to have seen the lender breach rules about the provision of unlawful finance. In addition to the conspiracy charges related