WHAT IS IT ALL ABOUT?

BARCLAYS has been accused of committing fraud over payments made to investors when they pumped in cash to keep the lender afloat.

In June 2008 it persuaded Qatar to invest £4.5billion. In October, Qataris invested billions more as part of a later fundraising operation.

Around the same time, Barclays allegedly paid the Qataris at least £346m in fees. The Serious Fraud Office has been examining if the payments were illegally used to encourage Qatar to invest.

At the time of the October investment, Barclays allegedly lent Qatar £2.3billion. If the bank’s money was used by the investors to buy its shares, this would breach financial assistance rules.