Former Barclays CEO Acquitted in Qatar Fundraising Fraud Case
June 21 2019 - 7:07PM
Dow Jones News
By Mengqi Sun
An appeals court dismissed criminal fraud charges against a
former chief executive of Barclays PLC, the U.K. Serious Fraud
Office said Friday.
John Varley, who served as Barclays' CEO between 2004 and 2010,
was charged in 2017 with conspiracy to commit fraud by false
representation in capital raising and unlawful financial
assistance. The case focused on fundraising arrangements with
Qatari investors in 2008, according to the SFO, the U.K.'s
white-collar crime prosecuting agency. Three other former Barclays
executives and the bank itself were also charged in the case.
A U.K. Crown Court judge ruled in April that the evidence
against Mr. Varley was insufficient for the case to proceed. The
SFO appealed the decision, but the appeal was dismissed by the
Court of Appeal, according to the SFO.
Both the SFO and Barclays declined to comment on the
decision.
The SFO in 2012 opened the investigation into Barclays and its
capital-raising arrangements with Qatar Holding LLC, a subsidiary
of state-owned Qatar Investment Authority, and Challenger Universal
Ltd. The bank allegedly provided a $3 billion loan to Qatar Holding
in 2008 for the purpose of directly or indirectly acquiring shares
in the bank, the SFO said. U.K. law forbids a company from giving
someone money to buy its shares.
Mr. Varley's acquittal follows a High Court decision that
cleared the bank of fraud charges last year. The three other
defendants will be retried at a later date, according to the
SFO.
Friday's acquittal follows the high-profile collapse of the
SFO's prosecution of three former executives at subsidiaries of
British retailer Tesco PLC. Two of the former executives were
cleared of wrongdoing in December, while the third was acquitted in
January.
Dylan Tokar contributed to this article.
Write to Mengqi Sun at mengqi.sun@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
June 21, 2019 18:52 ET (22:52 GMT)
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