Bankers borrowed billions from Qatar ‘to avoid bailout’

A former Barclays chief executive and three senior bank executives avoided a taxpayer bailout at the height of the financial crisis by getting billions of pounds of secret funding from Qatar, a court heard. Ex-CEO John Varley, 62, and former colleagues – Roger Jenkins, 63, Tom Kalaris, 63, and 60-year-old Richard Boath – allegedly raised £11.8bn in emergency fundraising in 2008. The deal was the subject of a five-year investigation by the Serious Fraud Office. Prosecutors allege that the defendants…