Venezuela: UK court blocks Maduro’s attempt to access $ 1 billion gold

The Central Bank of Venezuela, still controlled by Maduro’s government, has filed a lawsuit Bank of England, seeking access to 930m euros ($ 1 billion) in gold reserves, which it said would help the country deal with it. coronavirus pandemic, Venezuela intended to liquidate gold in order to purchase health supplies and food through the United Nations Development Program, according to court documents.

But the British government, along with the U.S. government and dozens of them around the world, recognizes Guaidó, not Maduro, as the legitimate leader of Venezuela. It’s Venezuela political turmoil dates back to 2018, when Maduro secured another six-year term in a presidential election that is widely understood as a hoax.

“It is a victory for the Venezuelan people and the rule of law and it shows the importance of separation of powers,” envoy Vanessa Neuman told CNN. “Gold is where it has always been, in [Bank of England], Maduro wanted to remove it, and we protected it because of the people. “

The Venezuelan central bank said it would appeal the verdict.

“The [central bank] he will immediately appeal the absurd and unusual decision of an English court that intends to deprive the Venezuelan people of the gold so urgently needed to fight the Covid-19 pandemic, “a tweet said on Thursday.

Maduro’s representatives in court assessed the verdict as “unsatisfactory”.

“It is very rare that a case of such international legal importance is decided only by referring to legal issues without taking into account the facts on the ground,” lawyer Sarosh Zaiwalla said in a statement.

The Bank of England previously told CNN it “does not comment on individual customer relationships”.

The bank holds about 400,000 bar of gold in its vaults, worth over £ 200 billion ($ 244.6 billion), according to its website. That makes him the second largest gold keeper in the world after the New York Federal Reserve.