Feb 1, 2019
Barclays trial takes jury back to frenzied banking crisis days
A high-profile fraud trial of four senior Barclays executives took the jury back to the frenzied days of the 2008 banking crisis this week with records of phone calls and emails between the defendants as the bank frantically sought to escape a taxpayer bailout. In the record of an October 2008 telephone conversation shown to the jury, Mr Jenkins, former head of Barclays Middle East - nicknamed "Big dog" by senior colleagues - described Bob Diamond, then head of its investment bank, as "f**king paranoid" about a possible Barclays nationalisation because he might be "Let go" and said Mr Varley was "Scared to death that the government turn up tomorrow morning". Mr Jenkins had a conversation with fellow defendant Richard Boath in which Bob Diamond, then the head of Barclays investment bank, was said to be 'f**king paranoid' about a possible nationalisation of Barclays. The trial also heard that after Barclays agreed the Qatari fundraising, Mr Jenkins, who was paid £37.5m in 2007, pushed for an additional £25m special payment for his role in helping raise capital from Qatar saying he had helped "Save our arses and jobs". Ed Brown QC, prosecuting for the SFO, has claimed to the trial that the two advisory services agreements were "Spurious" and "a sham" to cover up the reality of paying the fees demanded by the Qataris, who are not on trial.
Related companies
Make a complaint about Barclays by viewing their customer service contacts.
