England is stealing 32 tons of gold from Venezuela

The British Justice ruled this Friday in favor of the 'ad hoc directive' of the Central Bank of Venezuela (BCV), appointed by former opposition deputy Juan Guaidó, for which it denied the Venezuelan State access to the 32 tons of gold that remain withheld at the Bank of England.

The decision was made by Judge Sara Cockerill, of the High Court of London, who after a four-day trial, which ended on July 18, determined that she does not consider as valid the resolutions of the Supreme Court of Venezuela (TSJ) that declared null the appointment of that parallel board of directors of the BCV, because in the United Kingdom there is no legal basis to do so.

However, Cockerill did not authorize Guaidó's team, who unconstitutionally proclaimed himself "president in charge" in 2019, to access the gold reserves, despite the fact that he considered the board of directors appointed by the former opposition deputy to be valid and that he is still recognized by the British Government as the legitimate president. However, it is expected that another hearing will determine whether they can dispose of the precious metal.

Although Caracas has not yet ruled, the BCV defense is expected to appeal the ruling, which comes after the British Supreme Court in December 2021 referred the case to the Commercial Court to decide who should be granted access to the 32 tons of gold, valued at more than a billion dollars.

Using this support, Guaidó asked the Bank of England not to allow the government of Nicolás Maduro to access the reserves and appointed an "ad hoc directive" of the BCV to assume control of those resources. For this reason, Cockerill had to decide whether or not she admitted the validity of the TSJ resolution that declared the designation of that parallel 'directive' null and void.

In her ruling, the judge determined that although the Supreme Court rulings invalidate Guaidó's appointments, she has no basis in his jurisdiction to accept them. Likewise, she stated that although they could be recognized, doing so "would conflict" with the English doctrine of 'A single voice', which obliges State agencies to proceed in the same way in foreign policy.

Background

This legal battle dates back to 2018, when the Venezuelan government requested access to its reserves to honor its financial commitments, in the midst of US sanctions, and was denied. Later, in 2019, he made a new request for gold and there was another refusal by the Bank of England, which alleged that the already acting British Prime Minister, Boris Johnson, only recognized Guaidó as a legitimate president.

At the end of September 2020, an appeals court announced that it would examine the claim of the Venezuelan State and determine if the ruling that favored Guaidó had been adequate. One of the key points that the BCV argued was that the United Kingdom did not break diplomatic relations with the Maduro administration, so that recognition of the former opposition deputy was questionable.

A month later, that instance annulled the decision that benefited the former parliamentarian and returned the case to the Commercial Court for further investigation.

In December 2020, the Supreme Court granted the 'ad hoc' Board of Guaidó the authorization of its appeal request "for all reasons" and rejected the one made by the representation of the Maduro Government, related to obtaining permission to file an appeal on the issue of its recognition. The next day, the suspension of the process in the Commercial Court was ordered "to await the result of this appeal before the Supreme Court."

The Supreme Court did not resolve the case and returned it to the Commercial Court at the end of 2021. The ruling of the highest court was described as "puzzling" by Caracas, since although it assured that the decision of the British Executive to recognize Guaidó could not contradict himself, he did consider it necessary to evaluate the validity of the decisions of the Venezuelan TSJ (which annulled the actions of the former deputy).