Barclays has abandoned its protracted fight with the Serious Fraud Office over sensitive documents about its 2008 Middle East fundraising and handed them over for scrutiny. The bank had argued that it should not give up the documents, claiming they contained legal advice protected by lawyer-client privilege and that handing them over would set a dangerous precedent about what companies could expect to keep confidential. However, Jes Staley, the bank’s chief executive, appears to have changed tack, in what may prove to mark a new push to resolve the dispute. The SFO is looking into £322 million in advisory fees Barclays paid the Qatar Investment Authority during its £7 billion fundraising, which allowed the bank to escape a taxpayer bailout. The agency wants to know
Barclays is to hand over much-disputed internal documents relating to its dealings in Qatar to the Serious Fraud Squad (SFO); the bank has until now resisted handing over the documents that concern communications from a fundraising in 2008, citing they contained legal advice protected by attorney-client privilege. The bank has been under investigation by the SFO since 2012 concerning two emergency cash injections received from its Middle East investors during the financial crisis, which stopped Barclays having to be bailed out by the government, as Lloyds and RBS were.