Barclays, the prince’s ex and a £2.3billion loan deal for Qataris
BARCLAYS gave a £2.3billion loan to Qatari investors so they could rescue the bank at the height of the financial crisis, according to explosive claims made in a legal row with a leading City financier.
The allegations are the latest twist in the bank’s long-running dispute with dealmaker Amanda Staveley, 43, a millionaire ex-girlfriend of Prince Andrew famed for her links with Middle Eastern investors.
Her venture capital firm PCP is suing Barclays over fees it received over a funding deal and has filed new High Court documents claiming the bank loaned £2.3billion to Qatari businessmen. This is almost exactly the same amount Qataris then spent on Barclays shares – a move that helped keep the bank afloat.
The allegations, which Barclays denies, are toxic because they suggest the bank was saved with its own cash rather than attracting fresh money. It is illegal for companies to lend money specifically so that a borrower can buy shares in them.
And crucially it staved off the need for a rescue bid by the Treasury. This would
‘A fraud on its shareholders’
have allowed the Government to dictate dividend payments and pay deals. PCP claimed that Barclays’ behaviour was ‘a fraud on its shareholders perpetrated through a series of unlawful transactions and dishonest conduct’.
Miss Staveley was instrumental in a deal to save Barclays struck at the height of the banking crisis in October 2008, which raised £7.3billion and saw off the need for a state bailout of the lender.
PCP earned £29.5million from the rescue after lining up Abu Dhabi investors to take part. But Miss Staveley is suing the bank for more than £700million in damages, plus interest and costs, after claiming it had failed to pay her and her investors the same fees doled out to the Qataris.
Miss Staveley’s firm accused Barclays of handing £346million in fees to Qatar, saying £280million of these payments were not revealed at the time.
The businesswoman has a string of successes to her name, but the Barclays rescue was a moment when the British financial system itself benefited from her renowned black book with the contact details of overseas investors.
Miss Staveley – who declined a marriage proposal from Prince Andrew in 2003 – had been in contact with Abu Dhabi’s Sheikh Mansour for months in the run-up to the deal. She spoke to top bosses at Barclays, including former chief executive Bob Diamond, who resigned in disgrace years later over the Libor rate-rigging scandal that saw his employer hit with record fines.
One key contact at the bank was Roger Jenkins, then reportedly Britain’s best-paid banker earning more than £75million a year, whom she met at his house in Mayfair. He was then married to Bosnian socialite Sanela Diana, and the pair had their own set of contacts to work on.
It was only much later that the agreement to save the bank turned sour. PCP filed a lawsuit against Barclays earlier this year. It has now signed up litigation funding firm Therium to support its case.
Miss Staveley said: ‘Therium’s involvement in the case shows the strength and confidence in the claim.’
Barclays is also facing a probe from the Serious Fraud Office ( SFO) over its loan to the Qataris. Lawyers for the SFO said it hoped to have decided by early next year whether criminal charges should be brought.
A Barclays spokesman said: ‘We believe the claim against Barclays is misconceived and without merit and Barclays will be vigorously defending it.’
Miss Staveley, who is worth an estimated £105million, played a key role in the sale of Manchester City to Sheikh Mansour in 2008.
She met Prince Andrew in 2001 and they embarked on a relationship serious enough to involve visits to Buckingham Palace, Sandringham and the Prince’s home in Windsor Great Park. She married Iranian businessman Mehrdad Ghodoussi in 2011.