Former Barclays chair will appear at SFO fraud trial
Marcus Agius, the former chairman of Barclays, is set to appear as a witness for the prosecution at the high-profile trial of four of the bank’s former executives on fraud charges.
Agius quit the bank nearly seven years ago over its role in the Libor-rigging scandal. He will be called on by the Serious Fraud Office (SFO) this week to give evidence on claims that top bankers made clandestine payments to Qatar, in exchange for a sizeable investment which saved the lender from a government bailout during the financial crisis in 2008.
Over the past four weeks, the jury at Southwark Crown Court has heard the opening statements and evidence from the SFO. It alleges the executives used a pair of “not genuine” advisory services agreements (ASAs) in order to effectively pay the Qataris a higher fee than other investors received as the bank scrambled for money.
The executives on trial are former chief executive John Varley, former top investment banker Roger Jenkins, former wealth division manager Thomas Kalaris, and former head of European financial institutions Richard Boath.
They all face charges of conspiracy to commit fraud, with Varley and Jenkins facing an additional charge in relation to the second of the two ASAs.
All four deny the charges, and claim the ASAs – in which the Qataris agreed to provide political and networking advice in exchange for £322m – were genuine.
The Barclays trial – highlights so far:
- Ex-Barclays executives ‘made secret Qatar payments to avoid government bailout’, court told
- ‘The food sucks and the sex is worse’: Barclays fraud trial execs joked about prison
- Bailout fears kept Barclays banker ‘up at 2am’
- Barclays ‘big dog’ pushed for £25m special payment after Qatari cash mission
- Barclays boss feared payments to Qataris could be seen as a ‘bung’
- Barclays fraud allegations implicate Qatar, says trial judge
The closely-watched case, which is the first trial of top bank bosses since the financial crisis, is expected to last for up to six months.
The bank was eventually successful in securing enough funding to avoid a bailout, which would have meant losing some of its operational independence. Investments from Qatar’s sovereign wealth fund and its Prime Minister were crucial to its success.
The SFO will begin calling external witnesses tomorrow. On Friday, the jury heard Barclays’ board was offered a £500m investment by the Russian government during the crisis, and also courted the Libyan investment authority.