Barclays bosses were "scared to death" at the risk of state bailout

John Varley, former chief executive of Barclays, was "scared" by a possible nationalization of the bank during the financial crisis of 2008, which also made his colleague Bob Diamond "paranoid," said a court.

A criminal trial of Mr. Varley and three of his former colleagues was presented to details of a telephone conversation between two defendants in October 2008, when the British government announced a bailout of banks – sparking fear of Barclays executives about their multi-million pound bonuses.

Roger Jenkins, former Middle East manager at Barclays, called Mr. Diamond, then head of his investment bank, "f ** king paranoid" and said Mr. Varley was "scared at the # 39th idea that the government comes tomorrow morning ""

Richard Boath, a seasoned business banker, asked Mr. Jenkins, "So, Bob is paranoid of nationalization?" Answered Mr. Jenkins: "Well, let yourself go." Mr. Boath replied, "Oh, personally?", To which Mr. Jenkins replied, "Yes."

Prosecutors allege that Mr. Varley and Mr. Jenkins, Mr. Boath and Tom Kalaris, who headed the bank's wealth management team, lied to the marketplace and other investors about the fees of the bank. bank in Qatar for two emergency fund calls worth more than £ 11 billion. Mr. Diamond has not been charged with any wrongdoing.

According to the UK's Serious Fraud Office, the four men secretly paid £ 322 million to Qatar in exchange for its investment in two cash appeals, which allowed Barclays to escape a bailout of the British government in 2008.

According to the SFO, the "consulting services agreements" with Qatar at the time were only a "dishonest mechanism" to channel additional funds to the Gulf State. The four men deny having acted badly.

The minutes of the Barclays Board meeting held in October 2008 showed in the minutes that the directors had stated "clearly their preference" not to use the capital of British taxpayers as this would limit flexibility of the bank, future dividends and bonuses of leaders.

Jenkins, Boath and a third banker, Jeff Weiss, briefed the jury on the first details of their telephone conversation in early October 2008. Mr. Jenkins stated that he had woken up at 2 am, "panicking while we were about to nationalize ourselves. " The British government "would not look sympathetically at a compensation of over a million dollars".

Mr. Weiss told the men that he was not panicked but that they "thought they were going to reduce Varley and Diamond's compensation to a reasonable amount," but that "the little people like us who are under the radar screen would be nice. "

Mr Jenkins, who had earned £ 39.5m in 2007 and had been recommended to pay £ 25m for his role in lifting the capital of Qatar, told the two men "if we do not have to go to [UK] government, we do not have to disclose your composition, that of Jeff and that of Jeff, because nothing belongs to me ".

Ed Brown, prosecutor, told the jury that Mr Varley had received £ 4.23m in 2007, Mr Boath £ 2.87m and Mr Kalaris £ 13m. "You may think that some of the defendants were very motivated to keep their jobs," he told the jury.

Earlier, the trial heard a phone call between Richard Boath and Judith Shepherd, a Barclays lawyer, in July 2008, about the first agreement with the ASA in June 2008, in which he said: "When I'm I put that on the screen. and I read it I start shaking "

Mr. Brown told the jury that Mr. Boath's "anxiety" about the ASA showed that he "knew it was wrong and continued to worry about it".

Varley and Jenkins deny two counts each of misrepresentation fraud during two Barclays fundraisers in June and October 2008. MM. Kalaris and Boath each deny a leader for the June fundraiser.

The trial, which can last up to six months, continues.