Venezuela rejects the ruling of the British Justice in the dispute over Venezuelan gold

First modification: 07/29/2022 – 17:54

The Administration of Nicolás Maduro suffered a severe setback this Friday, July 29, after the London High Court ruled in favor of the board of the Central Bank of Venezuela (BCV) that was appointed by Juan Guaidó in the case of deposited Venezuelan gold in the Bank of England, whose figure rises to more than 1,000 million dollars.

After hearing the news, the Venezuelan government rejected the decision of the British Justice and urged the London court to go back on its ruling.

“I call on the British government, they have the opportunity to correct, (…) to resume a correct course attached to public international law (…) in relation to Venezuela, they have to rectify and this is the opportunity,” he said. the country’s executive vice president, Delcy Rodríguez.

Rodríguez also rejected that the British government considers Juan Guaidó as interim president of Venezuela. “The message that we give to the British government is not to continue with this tomfoolery of pretending that Juan Guaidó is president of a country,” he said.

The opposition council had asked the British banking authorities not to allow Maduro’s men access to the 31 tons of gold.

Judge Sara Cockerill, from the Commercial division, was in charge of the ruling, who stated that she cannot validate the decisions of the Supreme Court of Justice (TSJ) of Venezuela that revoked Guaidó’s appointments in the BCV, justifying that there is no legal basis in the United Kingdom to give it the go-ahead.

However, the judge did not authorize the opposition to go to the reservations either, which has to be resolved in another hearing.

In line with UK policy, the magistrate stated that Guaidó is recognized as the only legitimate president, albeit temporarily, of the Latin American country, so his appointment is valid.

The highest British judicial authority emphasized that the local Executive has not accepted the Maduro government since 2019. Based on the English legal doctrine of One Voice, all Guaidó’s decisions must be taken as lawful and certifying the TSJ’s ruling would go against of that ideology.

Cockerill added that granting him acceptance would also represent a violation of the right of the opposition to a fair trial, since they were not summoned or witnessed the moment in which the Caracas court ruled on the case.

However, he assured that the Guaidó delegation did not give “convincing evidence” that the TSJ is not impartial and independent.

The opposition party told the EFE agency that they will appeal the sentence, something that should happen in August so that the judge can rule again in September.

While an extension of the London Justice is expected in the coming months to resolve other points of the case, among them, if Guaidó’s body will be able to manage Venezuelan assets on English soil.

Maduro’s legal representative, Sarosh Zaiwalla, called it “unfortunate” that the judge “was constrained by technical standards” and confirmed that they will continue the contest “to ensure that Venezuela’s sovereign assets are preserved for the benefit.”

The bid for access to gold began in May 2020, when Calixto Ortega -president of the official board of the BCV- took aim at the Bank of England for not complying with the transaction of 930 million euros of the reserves that were required for the fight against the Covid-19 crisis.

This resolution could set a precedent for the litigation brought by Deutsche Bank, which dates back to the same time, and which consists of a claim of 120 million dollars derived from the termination of a gold swap contract.

With AFP, EFE and Reuters