Barclays Bank agrees to pay £190m in bank case

British banking giant Barclays has been charged with breaching the International Emergency Economic Powers Act and the Trading with the Enemy Act in dealings between 1995 and 2006.

The bank has been involved in illegal financial transactions with banks in Cuba, Iran, Libya, Sudan and Burma, according to the Justice Department.

The bank violated US and New York state criminal laws from as early as the mid 1990s to 2006 by allowing the transfer of hundreds of millions of dollars through the US financial system on behalf of banks in the above mentioned countries.

Court papers revealed that Barclays concealed the transactions that it carried out with banks in the sanctioned countries.

As a result, the banking giant has to pay $298 million (£190 million) to settle the charges. It has agreed to co-operate fully after voluntarily disclosing some of the transactions.

The charge comprises of a payment of $149 million to the US Government and a separate $149 million in a deferred prosecution agreement with the district attorney in New York.

However, the agreement still needs approval from a federal judge.

Barclays could not immediately be contacted for comment.

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