The Serious Fraud Office will on Monday ask a London employment tribunal to hear an unfair dismissal claim by a former senior banker at Barclays in private.
The attempt to deter reporting of the case will be challenged by a number of news outlets – including the Guardian – and comes as the SFO continues its investigation into Barclays’ emergency cash call during the 2008 banking crisis.
The unfair dismissal case is being brought by Richard Boath, who until March was chairman of financial services at Barclays and has been interviewed by the SFO as part of its long-running investigation.
Few details about his claim are known although he is reported to be making the case under whistleblower protection laws. This means the potential payout is unlimited, unlike the £78,000 cap that applies to tribunals.
The SFO said it was “seeking orders that the hearings be held in private so as to preserve the confidentiality of the claimant’s interview by the SFO, and that there should be corresponding restrictions on the publication of such matters”. It added that an alternative would be “for the parties not [to] be permitted to refer to the contents of the claimant’s interview by the SFO in these proceedings”.
The SFO has said it will decide by March 2017 whether to bring charges in connection to the events in 2008 when Barclays avoided a taxpayer bailout by raising £7bn from investors, including in the Middle East.
The bank is contesting a £50m fine by the City regulator in relation to the fundraising during which the Financial Conduct Authority said it “acted recklessly” over the disclosure of £322m of fees paid to Qatar Holdings. The FCA penalty has been put on hold while the SFO continues its investigation, which Barclays has previously said includes its ex-finance director Chris Lucas.
Barclays has said it disclosed this fee arrangement in the first fundraising in June 2008, but not in the following one in October 2008.
The SFO had raised the possibility last year of offering Barclays a deferred prosecution agreement, which would require cooperation from companies that in turn need to admit to offences, although this appears to have come to nothing.
Barclays declined to comment ahead of the tribunal. It is contesting a £721m claim by Amanda Staveley – a financier who helped the bank find billions of pounds during 2008 – who argues she should have received fees for being involved in the the crucial financings.
