UK criminal court dismisses Barclays’ fraud charges News
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UK criminal court dismisses Barclays’ fraud charges

Britain’s Southwark Crown Court [official website] dismissed charges against Barclays regarding agreements between the bank and Qatari investors during the 2008 financial crisis.

The Serious Fraud Office (SFO) [official website], a British anticorruption government organization, charged [press release] Barclays [corporate website] and four of its former executives in June 2017 [JURIST report] with conspiracy to commit fraud and violation of the Companies Act of 1985 by providing unlawful financial assistance.

The Crown Court Dismissed charges against Barclays for two offenses of conspiring with certain former senior officers and employees of Barclays to commit fraud by false representations, and charges of unlawful financial assistance.

The SFO notes [materials] it is “considering its position in respect of that ruling in relation to the companies.” In a statement, [press release, pdf] Barclays said it expects the SFO will likely “seek to re-instate these charges by applying to a High Court Judge to re-commence proceedings via a new indictment of the same charges.”

The charges dismissed by the court only involve Barclays as a corporation. The four former Barclays bankers charged—the former chief executive John Varley, Roger Jenkins, Thomas Kalaris, and Richard Boath—still face charges over the Qatari investment.