LONDON: Barclays and four former top executives were charged with fraud on Tuesday over undisclosed payments to Qatari investors as part of a £12 billion ($15 billion) emergency fundraising during the financial crisis in 2008.
Britain’s Serious Fraud Office (SFO) charged Barclays Plc, former Chief Executive John Varley, Roger Jenkins, Tom Kalaris and Richard Boath with conspiracy to commit fraud and unlawful financial assistance in its first criminal prosecution of a bank and senior managers over events during the credit crisis.
Barclays said it was considering its position and awaiting further information about the charges, which follow a five-year inquiry into how it avoided the fate of Lloyds and Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) by averting a state bailout.
The SFO charged Varley, Jenkins, the ex-chairman of its Middle East investment banking arm, Kalaris, a former CEO of the bank’s wealth division and Boath, a former European head of financial institutions, after investigating a two-part fundraising that included a $3 billion loan to Qatar.
A lawyer for Jenkins said he would “vigorously defend” himself, adding his client had received both internal and external legal advice at the time.
Boath said he had no case to answer as he had repeatedly raised concerns about decisions taken by the bank at the time with both senior management and senior lawyers and had been reassured the decisions were lawful.
“The SFO’s decision to charge me is based on a false understanding of my role and the facts. I was not a decision-maker and had no control over what the bank did in 2008,” he said in a statement.
“The evidence I have supplied is very clear: There is no case for me to answer.”
A lawyer representing Varley, who resigned as a Rio Tinto senior independent director with immediate effect following the SFO charges, declined to comment. A lawyer for Kalaris could not immediately be reached for comment.
Each offense of fraud by false representation carries a maximum jail sentence of 10 years. Barclays faces a fine.
The men have been told to appear before Westminster Magistrates’ Court on July 3.
The case centers on agreements between Barclays and Qatari investors during two fundraisings in June and October 2008.
Qatar Holding, part of the Qatar Investment Authority (QIA) sovereign wealth fund, and Challenger, an investment vehicle of former Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Hamad bin Jassim bin Jabr Al-Thani, invested around £5.3 billion in Barclays.
Authorities have examined whether payments from Barclays to Qatar at the same time, such as around £322 million in “advisory services agreements” (ASA), alongside the $3 billion loan, were honest and properly disclosed.
Varley and Jenkins have been charged with conspiracy to commit fraud by false representation during the June 2008 capital raising as well as the November 2008 fundraising. They also face a charge of unlawful financial assistance.
Kalaris and Boath have been charged with conspiracy to commit fraud by false representation during the June capital raising, the SFO said.
Qatar, which is a major UK investor, has not been accused of wrongdoing.
The criminal charge is a reputational blow to Barclays, which is grappling with a string of other legal problems.
In a separate case, it is contesting a $1 billion civil lawsuit from businesswoman Amanda Staveley, who arranged an investment in Barclays from Abu Dhabi investors during the financial crisis.
In 2013 the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) proposed a £50 million fine over how Barclays made disclosures about its dealings with Qatar in an investigation that has been on hold pending the outcome of the SFO’s probe.
“We are pleased that this matter, which led to the stay of our own case, is now in the public domain. We welcome a fair and transparent hearing on the basis of the charges set out today by the SFO,” it said in a statement.
Away from Qatar, Barclays current CEO Jes Staley, who joined the bank in late 2015, is under investigation for attempting to unmask an internal whistleblower.
Qatar, meanwhile, has made a healthy profit from its investment and remains Barclays’ biggest shareholder, with a stake of around 6 percent, according to Thomson Reuters data.
Britain charges Barclays, ex-bosses over ‘unlawful’ Qatari deal
Britain charges Barclays, ex-bosses over ‘unlawful’ Qatari deal
PSG star Mbappe will join Madrid: La Liga chief
- “He’s Madrid’s next season, yes,” Tebas told Argentine daily sports newspaper Ole
- Mbappe is set to join a star-studded Madrid team led by Brazil’s Vinicius Junior and England international Jude Bellingham
BUENOS AIRES: La Liga president Javier Tebas says Paris Saint-Germain striker Kylian Mbappe will join Real Madrid next season.
The 25-year-old France captain announced last week he is leaving PSG at the end of his contract this summer, without specifying his destination, and Madrid are poised to sign him after years of failed attempts.
“He’s Madrid’s next season, yes,” Tebas told Argentine daily sports newspaper Ole on Monday.
“If they’ve signed a five-year deal, he has five seasons of opportunity (to win the Champions League).”
Mbappe is set to join a star-studded Madrid team led by Brazil’s Vinicius Junior and England international Jude Bellingham.
Los Blancos strolled to the Spanish title and are in the Champions League final at Wembley against Borussia Dortmund on June 1.
“(Mbappe) is one of the best players in the world, but Vinicius and Bellingham are there too, Madrid will have a great squad,” continued Tebas. “But that does not guarantee you will win leagues.”
Mbappe is PSG’s all-time record scorer with 256 goals, having joined the club from Monaco in 2017 for 180 million euros ($194 million).
With PSG he won six French league titles but failed to earn Champions League glory, finishing as runners-up to Bayern Munich in 2020.
By joining record 14-time winners Real Madrid, Mbappe would increase his chances of finally earning club football’s most prestigious trophy.
Saudi-UK partnerships drive trade surge with over 60 initiatives across 13 sectors
RIYADH: Partnerships between Saudi Arabia and the UK cover over 60 initiatives across 13 sectors, with trade between the countries up a third since 2018, according to a top official.
Speaking during the opening remarks of the GREAT Futures Initiative Conference held in Riyadh, the Kingdom’s Minister of Commerce, Majid Al-Qasabi, noted that bilateral trade surged between 2018 and 2023, exceeding £79 billion ($99.12 billion).
With over 1,100 active licenses for UK investors, developments such as the giga-projects in Saudi Arabia and policy reforms are strengthening business opportunities in the Kingdom.
“The growth and the inflow of trade is matched by the growth in foreign direct investment. In 2022 alone, the inflow of British investment into (the) Saudi economy reached more than £4.3 billion,” Al-Qasabi said.
He added: “Our strong bilateral economic ties are underpinned by strong educational and cultural ties. In the academic years of 2020 to 2023, 14,000 Saudi students were pursuing their higher education in the UK.”
The UK’s Deputy Prime Minister Oliver Dowden used his appearance on a panel alongside Al-Qasabi to say that he is “particularly excited about sports and tourism” when it comes to increased cooperation with the Kingdom.
“We will enhance decision-making and collaborations across various sectors, which is wonderful and amazing, enhancing our prosperity as two countries. We also look forward to these collaborations,” he said.
Highlighting the UK as the second largest exporter of services in the world, Al-Qasabi stated that Saudi Arabia is looking into new trade across the cultural, sports, and entertainment areas, as well as financial and insurance spheres.
However, Dowden noted that a few additional sectors, including technology and artificial intelligence, were not covered.
“I think there’s a lot more we can do to collaborate together because there’s huge expertise in artificial intelligence in Saudi Arabia,” Dowden said.
He also flagged up education as an area for growth, saying that by 2030 there should be 10 British schools in the Kingdom.
“Having a presence in Saudi Arabia has always been a strength to the British education system, so that’s a tremendously exciting area for us,” Dowden said, adding that healthcare is also an area for expansion.
Additionally, Saudi Minister of Investment Khalid Al-Falih highlighted that the second largest investor in Saudi Arabia is the UK, which has accumulated about $16 billion in investment stock.
He continued: “I will also mention our regional headquarters program where we have attracted over 400 global multinational companies to choose Saudi Arabia as their hub, I’d say as their home countries. I am proud and happy that 52 of those are from the UK and we are happy to offer this platform to grow and prosper.”
Al-Falih also stated that Saudi Arabia needs to develop a new economy, focusing on sectors that have been historically under-invested in, while also tackling global challenges.
The minister emphasized that the UK and Saudi Arabia, as leading G20 economies, are experiencing significant changes driven by megatrends such as energy and technological transitions, as well as challenges like AI and disruptions in global supply chains.
However, he said: “There needs to be green energy embedded in our supply chain. What we want to do is build these new supply chains that are built on … efficient logistics, technology, automation, Fourth Industrial Revolution, accessing critical materials, not only in the Kingdom but in Africa."
On a hosting front, Minister of Tourism Ahmed Al-Khatib stated that the Kingdom has witnessed a remarkable 390 percent increase in demand for tourism activity licenses, with over 165,000 British travelers visiting Saudi Arabia in the first quarter of this year.
“The issuance of 560,000 electronic visas to the UK tourists since 2019 underscores the growth in a growing interest in visiting our Kingdom. Our aim is to further increase connectivity and expand the presence of traditional sales operators,” Al-Khatib said.
Furthermore, the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport of the UK, Lucy Frazer, stated that in 2022, the nation welcomed over 200,000 visitors from the Kingdom.
She quoted the UK’s national tourism agency VisitBritain’s latest forecast, which predicts 240,000 visits from Saudi Arabia this year.
“This is another area where you are testing the fundamentals. Looking up the tourism infrastructure needed to make Saudi Arabia a magnet for visitors doing what is needed to increase the number of annual travelers to the Kingdom from 14 million to 60 million in the next five years,” Frazer continued.
She also stated that many British sports stars will soon start playing in Saudi Arabia.
On the first day of the event, Red Sea Global CEO John Pagano stated that the first phase of project work will be completed in 2025, as the company is “currently working on the Red Sea International Airport project and have operated eight flights to Riyadh, Jeddah, and Dubai.”
Chemicals firm to open Saudi office
Maurits van Tol, CEO of Catalyst Technologies for Johnson Matthey, has announced that the company will open its office in Riyadh
“We traditionally have catered to the Kingdom from our offices in Bahrain and Abu Dhabi. But what we are also now, we will announce this week, is that we will open our office in Riyadh,” van Tol told Arab News.
“We just signed all the paperwork, and we will have the first people starting to work in the office very soon, and then we have a little bit of a bigger opening somewhat later in the year,” he said.
Van Tol said the office is set to open sometime between late summer and autumn with staff members from Saudi Arabia and the UK.
The company’s expansion is a part of Johnson Matthey’s aim to enhance local and regional collaboration.
Van Tol discussed the company’s expansion during a panel discussion titled “Powering a Greener Future” at the GREAT Futures event in Riyadh on May 13.
During the session, he highlighted Johnson Matthey’s technologies and their role in developing sustainable aviation fuel and other low-carbon solutions.
Van Tol said: “JM technologies will support KSA as it seeks to diversify its energy sources and reach its sustainability goals. We can and will help it make its vision to lead the world in making a circular carbon economy a reality.”
He said Johnson Matthey has been working in the region for 35 years, including collaborating with the King Abdullah University of Science and Technology.
“When you look at the Kingdom’s Vision 2030, there is a lot about reduce, reuse, recycle and remove … it’s also that place at the heart of what we do at Johnson Matthey,” Van Tol said.
“We design intrinsically energy-efficient technologies, but also we have a very broad suite of technologies that can convert renewables, including CO2, with renewable hydrogen, into synthetic aviation fuel,” he added.
Missile fired by drone kills four of a family in Pakistan near Afghan border, police say
- Local police chief said strike occurred in South Waziristan district of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province
- It was not immediately clear who fired the missile and officers were investigating, the official added
DERA ISMAIL KHAN: A missile fired by a drone struck a house in a former stronghold of the Pakistani Taliban in northwestern Pakistan along the Afghan border before dawn Tuesday, killing at least four villagers, including children, police said.
The strike happened in South Waziristan in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, local police chief Hidayat Ullah said. He said it was not immediately clear who fired the missile and officers were investigating. The Pakistan army evicted Pakistani Taliban insurgents from the region years ago, but they have been regrouping there.
Those killed in the missile strike were civilians with no known links to the insurgents. Villagers put their bodies on a road near a military camp and protested the killings and demanded information about who was responsible.
Most of the previous drone strikes in the area were carried out by the United States or the Pakistan army.
There was no immediate comment from the government or the military about the strike. The Pakistani Taliban, officially known as Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan, is separate from but a close ally of the Afghan Taliban. It has been emboldened by the Afghan Taliban’s takeover of Afghanistan in August 2021.
Closing Bell: TASI edges down to close at 12,120 points
RIYADH: Saudi Arabia’s Tadawul All Share Index dipped on Tuesday, losing 138.69 points, or 1.13 percent, to close at 12,120.91.
The total trading turnover of the benchmark index was SR7.31 billion ($1.94 billion) as 30 stocks advanced, while 200 retreated.
Similarly, the MSCI Tadawul Index decreased by 16.46 points, or 1.07 percent, to close at 1,519.37.
Also, the Kingdom’s parallel market, Nomu, slipped by 200.31 points, or 0.75 percent, to close at 26,659.06. This comes as 17 stocks advanced, while as many as 41 retreated.
The best-performing stock of the day was Al-Jouf Agricultural Development Co., whose share price surged by 7.58 percent to SR66.70.
Other top performers included Basic Chemical Industries Co. and Al-Babtain Power and Telecommunication Co., whose share prices soared by 5.36 percent and 3.91 percent, to stand at SR36.35 and SR46.50 respectively.
In addition to this, SAL Saudi Logistics Services Co. and Jadwa REIT Saudi Fund also fared well.
The worst performer was Saudi Public Transport Co. whose share price dropped by 9.92 percent to SR18.16.
On the announcements front, Hail Cement Co. announced its interim financial results for the period ending March 31, with revenues amounting to SR73.7 million, up from SR61.8 million in the corresponding period in 2023.
The company attributed the 19.2 percent growth to the increase in quantity of sales and average selling price.
On the contrary, net profits decreased to SR15 million in the first three months of 2024 from SR18.5 million in the same period in 2023, due to an increase in the cost of sales, zakat expense and selling and distribution expenses.
Taiba Investments Co. also announced its financial results for the same period with revenues amounting to SR332.07 million, up from SR110.96 million in the first three months of 2023.
In a statement on Tadawul, the company announced record revenue growth during the first quarter, attributed to Taiba Investment Co.’s acquisition of Dur Hospitality Co., which contributed to the rise in operational revenues.
It added that quarterly operating revenues rose up by SR221.1 million representing a 199.3 percent increase in comparison to the same quarter of the previous year.
Net profits also rose in this period reaching SR110.5 million, marking a 78 percent year-on-year increase.
This was attributed to higher hospitality revenues that were helped by the growth in the number of pilgrims and visitors, rising demand from the institutional sector, and the occurrence of numerous events and conferences in Riyadh during this period.
Rabigh Refining and Petrochemical Co.’s revenues in this period dipped by 27.2 percent to SR7.9 billion compared to SR10.9 billion in the first quarter of 2023.
This fall was attributed to lower sales volumes, due to the unplanned shutdown of the High Olefins Fluid Catalytic Cracker units for necessary repairs and maintenance work.
The company’s net loss surged to SR1.3 billion compared to SR964 million in the corresponding period last year.
The Saudi Public Transport Co.’s revenues slightly increased by 0.2 percent to SR308.5 million in the first quarter this year, compared to SR307.6 million in the corresponding period in 2023.
The increase in revenues in the current quarter compared to the same quarter of last year is attributed to increased operations during Ramadan, the company said in a statement.
Its net loss surged by 2.5 percent to reach SR48.6 million due to the recognition of loss in the joint venture, as well as the recording of a higher amount of impairment on trade receivables, and an increase in cost of finance.
Revenues of Emaar, The Economic City decreased sharply in the first three months of 2024 to SR75 million, down from SR157 million in the same period last year.
This 52 percent decline was mainly attributable to the decline in operational revenues, due to lower lease revenues resulting from the termination of certain leases.
The company’s net loss increased by 105.8 percent to reach SR352 million this year up from SR171 million in the first quarter of 2023.
It attributed this surge to a revenue decline, increased operational expenses, higher finance costs, and updated zakat expenses, with the latter being a one-time adjustment.
Palestinian truckers fear for safety after aid convoy for Gaza wrecked
- Footage circulated on social media showed at least one burning truck while other images showed trucks wrecked and stripped of their loads
- “Yesterday there was coordination for 70 trucks of aid to go the Gaza Strip,” said Waseem Al-Jabari, Head of the Hebron Food Trade Association
HEBRON, West Bank: Palestinian hauliers said on Tuesday they feared for the security of aid convoys to Gaza, a day after Israeli protesters wrecked trucks carrying humanitarian supplies bound for the enclave, which is facing a severe hunger crisis.
Footage circulated on social media showed at least one burning truck while other images showed trucks wrecked and stripped of their loads, which lay strewn over the road near Tarqumiya checkpoint outside Hebron in the occupied West Bank.
“Yesterday there was coordination for 70 trucks of aid to go the Gaza Strip,” said Waseem Al-Jabari, Head of the Hebron Food Trade Association.
“While the trucks were uploaded with products at the crossing settlers attacked the trucks and they destroyed the products and set fire in trucks,” he said, saying Israeli soldiers had stood by as the attack took place.
Monday’s incident was claimed by a group calling itself Order 9, which said it had acted to stop supplies reaching Hamas and accusing the Israeli government of giving “gifts” to the Islamist group.
No comment was available from the Israeli military. The Israeli police said the incident, in which a number of people were arrested, was being investigated.
The violent protest drew condemnation from Washington, which has urged Israel to step up deliveries of aid into Gaza to alleviate a growing humanitarian crisis in the enclave, seven months since the start of the war.
British Foreign Minister David Cameron also condemned the “appalling” incident, saying Israel must call the attackers to account.
Palestinians and human rights groups have long accused the Israeli military and police of deliberately failing to intervene when settlers attack Palestinians in the West Bank.
Adel Amer, a member of the West Bank-based hauliers’ union, said around 15 trucks had been damaged by Israeli protesters who beat some drivers and caused about $2 million worth of damage.
“The drivers are now refusing to take goods to Gaza because they’re afraid,” he said. “It’s a disaster here because of the settlers.”
Even when the military was present, the convoys were still at risk, he said. “The army says we cannot do anything to the settlers.”
