The Bank of England (BoE) warned fraud prosecutors in the UK against charging Barclays over payments made to Qatar at the height of the financial crises, it was unveiled yesterday.
The Financial Times reported that the central bank’s top regulator, Sam Woods, told the Serious Fraud Office (SFO) in 2017 that criminal charges against Barclays could threaten its safety and soundness. Also head of the Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA), Woods supposedly questioned whether a charge against the bank was in the public interest, as it had the potential to harm the lender.
Despite intervention from the BoE, Barclays was still charged with conspiracy to commit fraud in June 2017 by the SFO. However, all charges against the bank were dismissed by the Crown Court in 2018, followed by the SFO losing a case to reinstate the charges in October.
The charges were in relation to £322m in fees and a $3bn (£2.3bn) loan the bank paid to Qatar during two emergency cash calls that raised £12bn in 2008, as it fought to avoid a government bailout.
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