Qatar deal: UK court drops criminal charges against Barclays

Here’s what happened

A British court has dismissed charges brought by the Serious Fraud Office (SFO) against Barclays over its £11.8bn emergecy fundraising from Qatar.

“We are likely to seek to reinstate the charges by applying to the High Court,” an SFO spokesman said. It was not clear when that application would be heard. The basis of the court’s decision to drop the charges against the lender has not been disclosed.

The high-street lender said that the SFO was “likely to seek to reinstate these charges by applying to a High Court judge to re-commence proceedings via a new indictment of the same charges”.

It added: “The dismissals do not and should not be taken to indicate any finding on the issue of whether a criminal offence has or may have been committed by other persons.”