BARCLAYS piled the pressure on Amanda Staveley today calling more witnesses to the high court case to cast doubt on her standing in the world of finance.
Staveley, a businesswoman with connections in the Middle East, is suing the bank for £1.5 billion. She claims she is owed this for her role in aiding a £3.25 billion investment in Barclays during the financial crisis in 2008.
That investment kept Barclays, unlike rivals, out of the hands of the UK government.
She insists she was a major player, a principal and an investor in the deal.
Today David Forbes, formerly director of strategy at Abu Dhabi fund the International Petroleum Investment Company, gave evidence and a written witness statement.
He described the idea that Staveley’s firm PCP was in control of the Barclays investment as a “fantasy”.
He thought invoices from Staveley to IPIC were “improper and dishonest”. When other parties tried to edge Staveley away from the deal, said Forbes, “Ms Staveley nevertheless persisted in doing things, such as contacting third parties in relation to the transaction, which IPIC only learned about after they had happened. My impression was that this was a deliberate tactic on Ms Staveley’s part, designed to make her role appear more prominent than it actually was.”
He added: “The more time that we spent with Ms Staveley the more we began to build up a picture of her as someone who would confidently make assertions which proved to lack any real foundation or which she would later contradict without realising. My colleagues and I were also getting fed up with Ms Staveley making promises and not delivering.”
He also said Staveley had caused irritation by “repeatedly seeking media publicity for herself in connection with the Barclays deal”.
Staveley, who once dated Prince Andrew, has been fighting Barclays for the money for years. She is also involved in an on/off/on again takeover bid for Newcastle United.
Yesterday former Barclays executive Roger Jenkins apologised for calling Staveley a “tart”.
The case continues.
