The lack of urgency in the U.K. response it was U.S. regulators that first launched the investigation and the U.K. SeriousFraudOffice only decided last week to open a criminal investigation has deepened those suspicions.
Barclays says the UK's SeriousFraudOffice has started an investigation into payments between the bank and Qatar Holding LLC, part of sovereign wealth fund Qatar Investment Authority.
Let a few plain-spoken facts suffice: the widely-alleged existence of a vast BAE slush fund with which to bribe Saudi government officials was under investigation by the SeriousFraudOffice until they were called off following pressure from Tony Blair in 2006 on the grounds of the Mother of All Euphemisms, national security.
In August last year, the UK's SeriousFraudOffice said it had started an investigation into commercial arrangements between the bank and Qatar Holding LLC, part of sovereign wealth fund Qatar Investment Authority.
But seldom is it as downright astigmatic as it was on July 30th, when the law lords ruled that the SeriousFraudOffice (SFO) was entitled to submit to blackmail and drop its investigation, in December 2006, into alleged bribery in a Saudi Arabian arms deal.