The English Court of Appeal rejected the appeal of President Nicolas Maduro and sent it to the Commercial Court.
According to the ruling, the Court of Appeal dismissed the appeal of the Maduro Government and ordered that the Commercial Court determine the next course of action, citing the fact that the UK government no longer recognizes Juan Guaido as president of Venezuela.
The gold in the vaults of Bank of England represents a substantial chunk of Venezuela’s international reserves of $5.2 billion, excluding the special drawing rights that the country cannot currently access with the International Monetary Fund.
Maduro, Guaido and others have been fighting to control the gold in court. The legal battle became more complicated when Guaido was removed as Venezuela’s legitimate President by his allies, in January. This created uncertainty about who represented the country’s interest.
Maduro received permission in September to appeal a London judge’s ruling holding that decisions by Venezuela’s Supreme Court, which backed the government-controlled central bank board’s rights to access the gold, could not be recognized. The appeals court stated Friday that the change in Guaido’s recognition does not alter this decision.
The Commercial Court should consider the impact on the case of the changes in circumstances, including the de-recognition by Her Majesty’s Government of Mr. Guaido in light of the recent political events that have taken place in Venezuela, said Sarosh Zaiwalla. He is the Senior Partner of Zaiwalla & Co. and represents Maduro’s central bank board.
He added that the situation requires an investigation to determine who is to be considered as the government of Venezuela in the absence a formal UK recognition.