Top executives at Barclays agreed to lie about the payment of hundreds of millions of pounds to Qatar in 2008 in order to secure “vital” investments for the bank and avoid a public bailout that would place it under UK government control, a court has heard. The claims were made in an opening statement by prosecutors for the Serious Fraud Office (SFO) in the second trial against three former Barclays bosses. It is the only criminal case in Britain to be brought against banking executives for their actions during the financial crisis. The former Barclays investment banking chief Roger Jenkins, the former head of the ... (full story)