The UK’s highest court has blocked Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro from accessing £1.4billion of his country’s gold in the Bank of England vaults.
In a judgement this week, the Supreme Court ruled that only Juan Guaido, who is recognised as Venezuela’s legitimate leader by Britain and more than 50 other countries, could access the vital wealth.
Maduro was reelected in 2018, in controversial polls. He stated that he needs the gold to fight Covid-19 in Venezuela.
Bullion ban: The Supreme Court this week blocked Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro (pictured) from accessing £1.4bn of his country’s gold
But the Supreme Court said Maduro should not be recognised as president ‘for any purpose’.
Maduro has been trying to pull the bullion, which is about 15 per cent of Venezuela’s foreign currency reserves, out of the Bank of England since 2018.
The Bank did not release the document because Venezuela was under sanctions for corruption and human rights violations.
The Bank of England, which is second in world gold keeper capacity, has enough gold to cover entire nation in gold leaf. It only owns two bars itself – the rest of the 400,000-odd bars worth more than £200billion are guarded on behalf of the UK Treasury and the central banks of other countries from India to Australia.
Two bars were briefly found in the Threadneedle Street vaults that contained the two bar recovered from Nazi Germany by Tripartite Gold Commission of Britain and France for a brief period.
Although the Bank vaults were never burgled however, a sewer worker found his way into them through an abandoned drain in 1836.
He tipped the Bank off, mysteriously arranging to meet the directors one night in the vaults, and was rewarded with a gift of £800 for his honesty, which would now be worth more than £90,000.