Bankers joked about the ethics of secret Qatari bail-out

Top Barclays executives accused of making fraudulent secret payments to Qatari investors joked that they were surprised their ‘ethical’ CEO would sign off the deal, a court has heard. Ex-chief executive John Varley, 62, and former colleagues – Roger Jenkins, 63, Tom Kalaris, 63, and 60-year-old Richard Boath – raised £11.8bn in emergency fundraising in 2008 for Qatar by making secret payments to the Gulf state in a separate agreement. But the deal – which allowed the bank to avoid…