Venezuela's Maduro loses $1 billion gold battle

Agencies | London                                                   

The Daily Tribune – www.newsofbahrain.com

London's High Court has rejected President Nicolas Maduro's latest efforts to gain control of more than $1 billion of Venezuela's gold reserves stored in the Bank of England's underground vaults in London.

The court ruled on Friday that previous decisions by the Maduro-backed Venezuelan Supreme Court aimed at reducing opposition leader Juan Guaido's say over the gold, should be disregarded.

It marked the latest victory for Guaido, who has won a series of legal clashes over the bullion after the British government recognised him rather than Maduro as the Latin American country's president.

"I have ... concluded that the Guaido Board succeeds: that the STJ (Venezuelan supreme court) judgments are not capable of being recognised," the judge in the case said. The Maduro and Guaido camps have each appointed a different board to the Central Bank of Venezuela (BCV) and the two have issued conflicting instructions concerning the gold reserves.

Lawyers for the Maduro-backed BCV board said the central bank was considering an appeal after Friday's ruling, while Guiado, who has seen some international support falter over the last 18 months, called it an important victory.

Maduro's legal team has said he would like to sell some of the 31 tonnes of gold to finance Venezuela's response to the pandemic and bolster a health system gutted by years of economic crisis. Guaido's opposition has alleged that Maduro's cash-strapped administration wants to use the money to pay off his foreign allies, which his lawyers deny.