Qatar was paid millions in ‘illegal fees’ for Barclays , court to summon Qatari ex-PM

CAIRO – 2 February 2019: Richard Boath, an executive in Barclays’ investment banking division, told a senior lawyer at Barclays that that he would “start to tremble” when he reread documents relating to a deal that Barclays executives struck with former Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Hamad bin Jassim al-Thani to secure Qatari investment in the bank in exchange for a personal commission.

Boath and three other former Barclays executives, including the then chief executive, John Varley, are accused of conspiring to secretly pay Qatar £322m, in return for billions of pounds of investment in the bank, thereby allowing it to avoid a government bailout during the 2008 financial crisis.

This came during the fourth day of the fraud trial at London’s Southwark crown court last week.

Egyptian TV presenter Amr Adib during his talk show last night said sources affirmed that Hamad Bin Jassim left his residence in London after being tipped that he might be summoned by the court in this case. He pointed out that the court would also question Bin Jassim in regards to the financial scandal .

According to the Guardian, the court heard that Boath had asked Barclay’s lawyer Judith Shepherd if it was possible to “redo” the five-paragraph agreement, which included a handwritten note promising to pay Qatar £42m, because “it just doesn’t look very elegant”.

He is said to have told Shepherd that when he rereads the agreement: “I sort to start to tremble. So, you know, I’d really like to go and do something about it, so I can sleep.”

Edward Brown QC, the lead prosecutor for the UK’s Serious Fraud Office (SFO) said on Monday that the accused acknowledged the higher commission being paid to the Qataris as the deal was closing.

The Qataris asked for a commission of 3.75% in return for its investment, which was more than double the standard rate of commission of 1.5%. The SFO alleges that Barclays eventually agreed to pay Qatar a fee of 3.25% but disguised the extra 1.75% through “sham” advisory services agreements (ASAs), the court heard.

Brown presented the jury with tapes and transcripts of calls between Barclays bankers around the time the first 2008 fundraising closed in July.

The SFO alleges that four former Barclays executives – John Varley, who was CEO of Barclays between 2004 and 2011; Roger Jenkins, who formerly ran Barclays Capital’s investment management business in the Middle East and North Africa; Thomas Kalaris, the former CEO of Barclays’ wealth and investment management; and Richard Boath, the former head of European financial institutions group at Barclays Capital – lied to the stock market and other investors about the fees the bank paid Qatar in relation to emergency fundraising of more than £11bn.

“Qatari entities must be just as dishonest as the Barclays bankers on trial for fraud if the prosecution is correct,” the judge told the jury hearing.

Qatar had agreed to backstop the deal, saying it would buy all the shares offered to existing investors if they were not taken up. However, the Qataris did not expect to end up with a large shareholding as they thought other investors would want to buy shares, Brown said.

Bankers panicked when it became clear that investors uptake of the other shares was limited, according to the prosecution. It meant the Qataris would receive a smaller return on their investment as the commission fee was calculated on the maximum possible payment for shares, regardless of how much was finally paid.

Richard Boath and Robert Jenkins were “dismayed” about the low share uptake, Brown said, and panicked about how the Qataris would react to the news and whether they would be able to pay in full.