UK Appeal Court Gives Maduro VENEZUELA Regime Major Win In $1 BILLION Gold Case
Credit: Wikipedia / Some $1 Billion worth of Venezuela gold is held in the Bank of England in London
By Gary Raynaldo DIPLOMATIC TIMES
A United Kingdom Appeals court handed the Venezuelan government of Nicolas Maduro a major victory Monday, overturning a previous ruling from a lower court that refused to give control of more than $1 billion in gold stored in London to Maduro. A British judge back in July blocked an effort to give control of more than $1 billion in gold to the Maduro regime because the UK government recognizes rival Juan Guaidó, as the Latin American nation’s president. The ruling is a big win victory for Maduro, who was re-elected to a second term as president in a 2018 election widely dismissed as rigged. 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. Judge Stephen Males on Monday set aside the July judgement by the High Court in July which had ruled that the UK had “unequivocally recognised opposition leader Juan Guaidó as president”, rather than President Nicolás Maduro. Judge Males said that the UK’s recognition of Guaidó “is to my mind ambiguous, or at any rate less than unequivocal”. (Click here to read Monday’s full UK Court ruling) The case will now go back to the High Court, which will have to determine more clearly who is in charge in Venezuela.
“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 after the July lower court ruling. Maduro’s government has demanded the gold, saying it will transfer some proceeds from its sale to the United Nations Development Program for supplies to battle the coronavirus pandemic.
Despite its support for Guaido, the UK continues to have diplomatic ties with Maduro’s government. The British have not granted diplomatic credentials to Vanessa Neumann, the envoy, a jet-setting US socialite, that Guaidó has named ambassador to the U.K.. Maduro maintains the support of key allies, including Russia, China, Iran, Turkey and Cuba as well as the Venezuelan military.
