Barclays four in the dock on fraud charge

FOUR ex-Barclays Bank executives appeared before Westminster magistrates yesterday on fraud charges.

Former CEO John Varley, 61, Roger Jenkins, 61, Thomas Kalaris, 61, and Richard Boath, 58, are accused over a deal to raise £12billion from Qatar in June 2008, at the height of the financial crisis.

Barclays, Varley and Jenkins also face a fraud charge relating to a second fundraising in October.

They are the first criminal charges brought in the UK against a bank and its ex-executives for activities during the credit crisis.

All four were bailed to appear at the next hearing on 17 July.