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- Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro has won a UK court appeal in which he ruled in a legal battle over billion 1 billion in gold reserves held by the Bank of England.
- Britain’s second highest court overturned a previous ruling recognizing Juan Gouda as Venezuela’s interim president.
- The UK’s recognition of Venezuela’s de facto leader is “unclear to me or at any rate lower than the apparent rate,” court judges headed by Justice Stephen Males said Monday.
- Earlier this year, Maduro demanded gold held in the Bank of England’s vault so that he could use his cash to help the hungry country fight the Covid-19 epidemic. But his administration refused admission.
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The Venezuelan government of Nicolas Maduro received an appeal from a British court on Monday that the Bank of England should re-examine the legal battle over 1 1 billion in gold reserves held by England.
The English Court of Appeals overturned an earlier lower court decision that the UK recognized as the legitimate president of Venezuela.
Venezuela has been embroiled in a crippling political crisis since the hard-fought 2019 presidential election.
An earlier statement had called for the beleagured PM to resign. And about a dozen other countries recognized Venezuela as president, the ruling said.
The judges of the court, headed by Judge Stephen Mails, said in a statement that Britain’s de facto leader’s beliefs were “vague in my mind or less than clear at any rate.”
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In July this year, the UK said it recognized Gaudડો as Venezuela’s interim president, citing the “one voice” principle. “The judiciary and the executive must speak with one voice,” said High Court Judge Nigel Tierre. “Venezuela cannot have two presidents.”
In early 2018, Maduro approached Bank of England to extract about 50 550 million – or 16.5 tons of gold – from his wallet and return it to South America. Since then, the gold price of an ounce has risen more than 40%.
In emerging market economies it is common for governments to store gold in the central banks of more developed economies.
But Gowde urged the UK not to allow access to Venezuela’s gold reserves held by the Bank of England by President Nicolas Maduro’s “illegal and cliprotic regime” as he sought to secure holdings in the UK.
Again this year, Maduro demanded gold to help the cash-starved country fight the COVID-19 epidemic. But the central bank refused to hand it over.
Bank of England declined to comment on Business Insider.
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