Maduro wins court case over Venezuela's gold

Venezuelan President Maduro may regain access to gold at the Bank of England. A higher court in the United Kingdom has overturned the judgment of a lower court Undone. Last summer, the court ruled that Maduro could not lay claim to the gold. He would not be the legitimate president, because the elections in Venezuela would not have been fair. According to the higher court, that argument does not hold water, because the British government still maintains diplomatic relations with Maduro's government.

According to the higher court, the position of the British government is not clear. The statement of support for opposition figure Juan Guaido is not a good reflection of the real diplomatic relationship. This makes the British recognition of Guaido ambiguous to say the least, Judge Stephen Males ruled. As a result of this ruling, the lawsuit must be re-conducted, which means that the gold stock worth €1.5 billion could be returned to Maduro. He wants to retrieve the gold and possibly sell it to pay for the import of goods.

Bank of England blocked access to the gold

The United States and a host of allies decided last year to recognize opposition candidate Juan Guaido as president of Venezuela. However, despite political pressure and economic sanctions, Maduro is still in power. However, he does have to deal with major economic problems, caused by a combination of bad economic policy, economic sanctions and the low oil price. The country is running out of foreign exchange reserves and therefore has to Selling gold to be able to pay for the import of goods.

Venezuela, under Maduro's leadership, already has a large part of its gold reserves Sold. What little gold the central bank has left is partly stored in London. President Maduro wanted to Claim, but under pressure from U.S. sanctions, the Bank of England decided to suspend access to the gold. refuse. A dangerous precedent, because many countries keep some of their gold with the Bank of England. Under political pressure from the United States, access to that gold can be denied. Is that a reason why more and more countries are recovering gold?

This contribution was made from Geotrendlines