Credit: Wikipedia /  Some $1 Billion worth of Venezuela gold is held in the Bank of England in London

By Gary Raynaldo   DIPLOMATIC TIMES

A British judge refused to give control of more than $1 billion in gold stored in London to Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro because the UK government recognizes rival Juan Guaidó, as the Latin American nation’s president. Venezuela’s central bank, which is still controlled by Maduro’s government, had sued the Bank of England, seeking access to the gold reserves that it said would help the country cope with the coronavirus pandemic. Venezuela planned to liquidate the gold to purchase health care supplies and food through the United Nations Development Programme.  High Court judge Nigel Teare handed down a judgment last Thursday ruling that Britain had formally recognised Guaido as the constitutional interim President of Venezuela, and that due to the “One Voice” and “Act of State” doctrines the court is precluded from investigating the validity of Guaido’s acts.

Venezuela To Appeal The UK Court Ruling Denying Maduro Access To Gold

“The Banco Central de Venezuela will be seeking leave of the court to appeal this Judgment, which it considers entirely ignores the reality of the situation on the ground. None of the Board members of the so called ‘ad hoc Administrative Board’ of BCV appointed by the Mr Guaidó have been resident in Venezuela for some years now. Mr Maduro’s government is in complete control of Venezuela and its administrative institutions, and only it can ensure the distribution of the humanitarian relief and medical supplies needed to combat the coronavirus pandemic.   This is the reason why it issued a claim against the Bank of England, which had refused to act on its instructions to assist in permitting Venezuela’s gold reserves to be used to fund efforts by the United Nations Development Programme to purchase food, medicine and medical equipment for the use of the Venezuelan people during the coronavirus pandemic. This outcome will now delay matters further, to the detriment of the Venezuelan people whose lives are at risk”

Sarosh Zaiwalla, senior partner at Zaiwalla & Co, representing the Banco Central de Venezuela, statement.

“It is very rare for a case of such international legal importance to be decided by reference to legal questions alone without taking into account the facts on the ground, and still rarer for an English Commercial Court to be told that it can only decide a question in the way that the Government says it must,” Zaiwalla added.

Despite its support for Guaido, the UK continues to have diplomatic ties with Maduro’s government. The British have not granted diplomatic credentials to the envoy that Guaido has named ambassador to the UK.