Barclays Bank to face fraud trial next year

Barclays Bank will stand trial next year for providing a £2 billion loan to Qatar to help Middle Eastern investors buy shares in the bank to prop it up at the height of the financial crisis. Last year, Barclays Plc along with former chief executive John Varley and three of his senior colleagues – Roger Jenkins, Tom Kalaris and Richard Boath – were charged with fraud linked to the bank’s £11.8bn emergency fundraising in 2008. The deal with Qatari investors…