UK Top Court Announced Ruling on Venezuela Gold Case

SEATTLE (Scrap Monster): The top UK court has given its ruling on the long-pending dispute over the ownership of Venezuelan gold worth $1 billion stored at the vaults of the Bank of England.

The court partly ruled in favour of Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaido, saying that the decision by the English Court of Appeal to overturn an earlier ruling by the High Court was misplaced, as the British government’s recognition of Guaido as the country’s interim president was ‘clear and unequivocal’. It noted that British Courts must henceforth accept that the British government does not recognize, for any purpose, Maduro as the President of Venezuela.

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However, the Supreme Court asked the English Commercial Court to consider whether to recognize judgments by Venezuela’s Supreme Court ruling that Guaido’s transition statute was null and void.

The Board of Central Bank of Venezeula (BCV) that supports President Nicholas Maduro has filed a lawsuit against the Bank of England, in order to recover the gold stored in its vaults, so as to use it towards financing the country’s emergency response measures in fighting the Covid-19 pandemic spread. The Bank had rejected to release the gold, following opposition from Maduro’s political rival.

Guaido welcomed the ruling, but Maduro said that the Supreme Court ruling was ‘surprising and irrational’.