Serious Fraud Office seeks to reinstate charges against Barclays

Barclays said the Serious Fraud Office has sought to reinstate charges against the banking giant relating to the lender’s emergency fundraising from Qatar at the height of the financial crisis. 

The bank plans to defend the application brought by the SFO, which alleges it gave Qatar Holding the loan ‘for the purpose of directly or indirectly acquiring shares in Barclays’. 

The Companies Act deems it unlawful for banks to lend money to themselves. The bank is accused of giving out a £2.2billion loan for the purpose of directly or indirectly acquiring shares in Barclays Plc.

The emergency fundraising at the centre of the SFO case allowed Barclays to avoid the fate of its bailed-out rivals Lloyds Banking Group and Royal Bank of Scotland.

Barclays pulled off an £11.8 billion fundraising package from Qatari backers and other investors in 2008 to sidestep the need for a Government rescue, which left Lloyds and RBS part-nationalised.

Money was pumped in by State-backed Qatari investors, as well as Abu Dhabi royals and investors from Singapore.

But the way the bank secured the Qatari investments has since been mired in controversy.

The Serious Fraud Office (pictured) has sought to reinstate charges against the banking giant relating to the lender’s emergency fundraising from Qatar

That included a £2.2 billion loan made to the State of Qatar acting through the Ministry of Economy and Finance in November 2008.

The SFO had charged Barclays PLC with conspiracy to commit fraud and unlawful financial assistance, and Barclays Bank with unlawful financial assistance, over undisclosed fees paid to Qatar as part of a rescue deal that averted a possible state bailout at the peak of the financial crisis.

Barclays shares were trading 1.3 percent higher at 0909 GMT, outperforming a 0.7 percent rise in the FTSE 100.