Last updated: Friday February 14, 2020 KSA 20:20 – GMT 17:20
Posted on: Friday February 14, 2020 KSA 19:34 – GMT 16:34
Source: Dubai – Arabic.net
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The British courtyards and corridors are witnessing the closing details of one of the most controversial corruption cases in the last ten years, which is the Barclays corruption case that has cast a shadow over the State of Qatar and put the name of its former Prime Minister Hamad bin Jassim on the list of suspicions.
The Fraud Investigation Office of Major Fraud has charged three former bank executives: Roger Jenkins, Richard Booth and Tom Calares with committing the crime of lying about the fees the bank paid to Qatar in June and October 2008. The Fraud Investigation Office is basing its lawsuit. The criminal pointed out that the three officials have defrauded and conspired to pay 322 million pounds to Qatari authorities and individuals in exchange for investing in the bank by fabricating and forging two agreements for fake “consulting services”. The three defendants deny any crime.
The trial, whose jury members were dismissed last year without giving reasons, was re-established before a new judge and a new jury last October, as the court heard dozens of phone calls recorded between the accused, in addition to hundreds of documents and evidence that The Grand Fraud Office collected them over three years of investigations that began in 2014.
Hamad bin Jassim
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The trial, which was due to end its hearings this week with the end of the defense team’s closing arguments, has extended its sessions for another week at the request of attorney Richard Booth and Tom Calares, where they want more time to end their closing arguments. Especially after they asked the court judge to dismiss the collection of evidence represented in some recorded calls and electronic messages and not to consider them as evidence of conviction in the trial, but the judge’s response was disappointing, as the judge rejected the request, but he urged the jury to consider these evidence specifically Which the defense team tried to dismiss and consider as an integral part of the trial procedures, and they were asked to keep them in mind during the time of the deliberation to pass a ruling.
The calls and e-mails presented by the investigation committee in the court clearly indicated that Hamad bin Jassim was aware that Barclays Bank was going through a financial crisis during the economic collapse in 2008, and that the bank sought in various ways to avoid government nationalization so that the bank’s management did not lose its administrative control over the institution The huge banking sector, in addition to the members of the Board of Directors’ fear that they will lose their prestigious positions and jobs.
Hamad bin Jassim took advantage of this opportunity when the bank officials resorted to him in order for the Qatar Investment Authority to pump a large amount of liquidity and increase the bank’s capital, and Hamad bin Jassim required a higher percentage of the bank’s grant to the rest of the investors to complete it, in addition to secret personal commissions paid He personally has to give approval for that deal.
Hamad bin Jassim established and registered a company in the British Virgin Islands under the name “Challenger”, and he requested that the commissions be transferred to the accounts of this company, and that Barclays Bank does not disclose his name or deal arrangements in the annual financial reports that the bank presents to its general assembly And to the British Financial Supervisory Authorities, which the Office of Major Fraud Investigations considered fraud and fraud in official papers, a crime in which the defendants face penalties of up to 10 years in prison in addition to huge financial penalties.
This case remains the first financial corruption case of its kind related to the financial meltdown in 2008, which is considered before a criminal court, as all cases of this kind are usually financially reconciled before the economic courts and international arbitration bodies, but this time the case is considered before a court Old Bali, the most famous and most important criminal court in Britain and always looking into major criminal cases such as terrorism, espionage and murder.
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