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FILE PHOTO \u00a9 Global Look Press \/ Picture Alliance \/ Juan Carlos Rojas<\/p><\/div><\/p>\n
RT.com<\/p>\n
The UK High Court has ruled that Venezuela\u2019s legitimate president is in fact its self-proclaimed leader Juan Guaido, and not the elected Nicolas Maduro, in a bizarre legal battle for $1 billion of gold bullion.<\/p>\n
The Bank of England (BOE) holds close to $2 billion of Venezuela\u2019s gold for safekeeping. With both the Venezuelan government and the opposition laying claim to the fortune, the High Court has been tasked with deciding who deserves the funds, and said on Thursday that the UK\u00a0\u201cunequivocally recognizes\u201d<\/em>\u00a0self-proclaimed leader Guaido as president.<\/p>\n \u201cWhatever the basis for the recognition, her majesty\u2019s government has unequivocally recognized Mr Guaido as president of Venezuela,\u201d<\/em>\u00a0Justice Nigel Teare said on Thursday.\u00a0\u201cIt necessarily follows that her majesty\u2019s government no longer recognizes Mr Maduro as president of Venezuela.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n Venezuela\u2019s central bank wants the gold back so it can be sold to buy medicine and equipment to battle Covid-19. It has said the funds would be transferred to the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) to ensure it isn\u2019t used for anything else, but the opposition objects to this and claims Maduro wants to use the money to pay off his foreign allies.<\/p>\n Guaido, who has self-identified as the country\u2019s interim president since 2019, with backing from Western nations, claims the gold is his to control and alleged the bank would be\u00a0\u201cfinancing torture\u201d<\/em>\u00a0if Maduro won. The British government is among more than 50 nations that have recognized Guaido as Venezuela\u2019s leader.<\/p>\n A lawyer for Venezuela\u2019s central bank said that they would appeal the judgement which\u00a0\u201centirely ignores the reality of the situation on the ground.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n The BOE rejected Venezuela\u2019s request to withdraw the gold in January, which was reportedly at the request of US officials. This prompted Venezuela\u2019s central bank to file a claim against the BOE in May. Its case points to the fact that the UK Foreign Office maintains full diplomatic relations with the Maduro government, arguing that the UK can\u2019t have these relations while also recognizing someone else as the head of state.<\/p>\n The Venezuelan government first made moves to remove its gold stores after the 2018 election, which Maduro won and the opposition boycotted. Boris Johnson, who was then the foreign minister, said at the time that the UK\u00a0\u201cmay have to tighten the economic screw on Venezuela,\u201d<\/em>\u00a0and with further US sanctions placed on the country, its central bank informed the UK bank that it wished to take its gold back.<\/p>\n