London- Barclays trial and four former top executives accused of fraud over undisclosed payments to Qatari investors as part of a GBP12 billion ($15 billion) emergency fundraising during 2008 has been set for January 9, 2019, a judge said on Monday.

The Serious Fraud Office (SFO) last month charged Barclays Plc, John Varley, Roger Jenkins, Tom Kalaris and Richard Boath with conspiracy to commit fraud by false representation when they negotiated a capital injection for the bank from Qatar.

In a court hearing in London on Monday that lasted under one hour, Judge Andrew Edis set the date of the trial.

Barclays fund-raised GBP12 billion via two funding operations in June and October 2008 from wealthy Gulf investors, that allowed it to avoid being nationalized at the height of the credit crisis.

Authorities carried out five-year investigations whether Barcalys payments to Qatar were integral and abiding by the disclosure procedures. These payments included GBP322 million (USD406 billion) for consulting services and a USD3 billion loan, as reported by Financial Times.

At that time, Qatar achieved huge gains from its investments and it continued to have the biggest stake in Barclays – 6 percent stake – according to Thomson Reuters.

By fundraising from Qatar, Barclays avoided being included in the British government rescue plan, while Royal Bank of Scotland Group and Lloyds Bank had no other choice but to receive billions of sterling pounds as a bailout from the government.