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Ex-Barclays bosses cleared after failed Serious Fraud Office prosecution

AP
AP

The Serious Fraud Office suffered another major embarrassment today when three Barclays bosses were cleared of fraud charges dating back to the financial crisis.

Top investment banker Roger Jenkins, 64, once one of the highest paid executives in the City, and former senior colleagues Thomas Kalaris, 64, and Richard Boath, 61, were acquitted at the Old Bailey after a five-month trial.

The charges related to a £4 billion investment in the bank from Qatar at the height of the 2008 financial crisis that helped Barclays avoid nationalisation by Gordon Brown’s government.

The SFO alleged the terms given to Qatar, including an extra £322 million in fees, were hidden from the market and other investors through bogus advisory service agreements (ASAs).

Former Barclays Chief Thomas Kalaris arrives for a hearing for charges in 2017 (AP)
Former Barclays Chief Thomas Kalaris arrives for a hearing for charges in 2017 (AP)

Mr Jenkins was executive chairman of investment banking and investment management at Barclays Capital in the Middle East and North Africa; Mr Kalaris was Barclays’ wealth management chief; and Mr Boath was Barclays Capital’s head of financial institutions group for Europe, Middle East and Africa.

A fourth defendant, former Barclays group chief executive John Varley was cleared in the Appeal Court last June.

The jury deliberated for about five-and-a half hours before acquitting the trio of conspiracy to commit fraud by false representation and fraud by false representation between May 1, 2008 and August 31, 2008. Mr Jenkins was also acquitted of two similar offences between September 1, 2008 and November 30, 2008.

Richard Boath outside the Old Bailey, London, as he and two other former Barclays senior executives, Roger Jenkins and Thomas Kalaris, have been acquitted of fraud (PA)
Richard Boath outside the Old Bailey, London, as he and two other former Barclays senior executives, Roger Jenkins and Thomas Kalaris, have been acquitted of fraud (PA)

It is the latest in a long line of setbacks for the SFO. In February last year it abandoned two bribery cases: against former Rolls-Royce executives, and a separate one against GlaxoSmithKline.

In November 2018 two Tesco bosses being prosecuted over an accounting black hole walked free from court after a judge said the defence had no case to answer. A third was acquitted in January 2019 after the SFO offered no evidence.

A spokesman for the SFO today said: “Our prosecution decisions are always based on the evidence that is available, and we are determined to bring perpetrators of serious financial crime to justice. Wherever our evidential and public interest tests are met, we will always endeavour to bring this before a court.”

The outcome follows delays, appeals and a previous trial. Barclays still faces a £1.6 billion civil suit, an employment case filed by one of the defendants and scrutiny from the financial regulator.