Gold from Venezuela: UK Supreme Court partly agrees with Guaido but doesn’t decide who controls bullion in Bank of England
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- BBC News World
image source, Reuters
Nicolás Maduro’s government claims that the Venezuelan central bank should manage the gold in the Bank of England.
A long-running legal dispute in the UK over who controls more than $1 billion in gold that Venezuela has deposited with the Bank of England is advancing, but remains undetermined.
This Monday, the UK’s Supreme Court ruled in part in favor of the opposition leader Juan Guaidówho appealed to the Supreme Court in the dispute over whether he or the president Nicolas Maduro Who should control the gold deposited in London?
The Supreme Court agreed with Guaido because it maintains that the British government’s recognition of the opponent as the interim president is “unequivocally clear”, and thus accepted the appeal following a lower court’s decision.
According to the Supreme Court, British courts are obligated to accept that the British government does not recognize Maduro as president.
However, the Supreme Court maintains that it is now necessary for the Commercial Court to consider the decision of the Supreme Court of Justice of Venezuela (TSJ), which maintains that the so-called transitional law on which Guaido’s leadership is based is invalid.
Meanwhile, the British Commercial Court will have to determine whether Guaido has been recognized as head of state by the British government or if he is also recognized as head of government.
The Venezuelan opposition maintains that the TSJ is acting according to Maduro’s dictates.
The UK government has recognized Guaido as interim president since he was declared as such in January 2019. Maduro won a presidential election in 2018 that the opposition and dozens of countries consider illegitimate.
In January 2019, Guaido was president of the National Assembly (Parliament) and justified his decision to declare himself interim president under some articles of the constitution.
However, Maduro continues to occupy the Miraflores Palace in Caracas and holds power and control over the region.
But it is now also seeking access to gold deposited in the Bank of England as well as other Venezuelan assets abroad.
Both Maduro and Guaido appointed boards of directors for the Central Bank of Venezuela (BCV) and both boards issued conflicting instructions regarding London’s gold reserves.
Maduro’s BCV denounced the Bank of England in May 2020 for regaining control of gold. He says he wants to sell it to fund the country’s response to the coronavirus pandemic and help the health system affected by years of the country’s serious economic crisis.
The Bank of England refused to release gold because the British government supports Guaido in his actions over Maduro’s alleged illegality after the 2018 elections.
The Venezuelan opposition maintains that Maduro wants to use the money to pay the salaries of his international allies, something the president’s lawyers deny.
“Our client wishes to continue the case to prove that the Caracas BCV Board of Directors is the only properly appointed authority to manage Venezuela’s overseas assets for the benefit of the Venezuelan people,” Sarosh Zaiwala, an attorney representing the Board of Directors of Maduro BCV, said Monday.
image source, Reuters
Juan Guaido asked the Bank of England at the beginning of 2019 not to return gold to BCV.
Maduro’s foreign ministry said on Monday that the decision was “surprising and illogical” and that it was part of a plan by the British government and “fraud” Guaido to rob the Venezuelan people.
Guaido, for his part, celebrated the verdict and said he would continue to devote himself to his “constitutional work to protect the republic’s assets for future generations.”
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