Following speculation this afternoon, Barclays has confirmed that the Serious Fraud Office is investigating payments made to the Qatari sovereign wealth fund in connection with the bank’s 2008 capital raising. Here’s the Barclays RNS statement of this evening in full:
“Barclays confirms that the Serious Fraud Office has commenced an investigation into payments under certain commercial agreements between Barclays and Qatar Holding LLC.”
On 14 August 2012 Barclays first made public the interest of the Financial Services Authority in these payments, as we reported here. It appears that the FSA has now handed the investigation over to the criminal authorities.
Company and Financial Law 