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Posted by:
Greg Lance – Watkins
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Hi,
Bank of England says ‘NO’ to Venezuela Gold Withdrawal
Here we are briefly commenting on a report published by Bloomberg on Friday about Venezuela and how it could have some relevance for Gold and Silver Investors.
On Friday an interesting report was published by Bloomberg basically stating that Venezuela’s ruler Nicolas Maduro was unable to withdraw $1.2billion worth of gold from the Bank of England which was held here on behalf of Venezuela.
The report indicated that the reason for the refusal was that top US officials aka Secretary of State Michael Pompeo and National Security Adviser John Bolton, lobbied U.K. counterparts to cut off the Maduro regime from its overseas assets. It is estimated that the Venezuelan Central Bank holds $8 billion in foreign reserves.
The report by Bloomberg stated that:
“The U.K. followed the U.S. and other countries on Wednesday in recognizing Juan Guaido, the National Assembly leader, as the legitimate President of Venezuela. Maduro, an authoritarian ruler who’s overseen the country’s collapse into economic chaos, refuses to give up power, and has the backing of the military. The European Union threatened to recognize Guaido unless a “credible” presidential election is called within eight days…….the U.S. officials are trying to steer Venezuela’s overseas assets to Guaido to help bolster his chances of effectively taking control of the government.”
The report also highlighted that
“The Bank of England declined to comment on its handling of Venezuelan assets, saying it provides banking services – including gold custody services – to a large number of customers and does not comment on any of those relationships.”
Now to all of us the above seems pretty innocuous and seems to be the right thing for them to do – after all Maduro is essentially a pretty nasty and economically inept dictator.
However, it cannot, nor should it, go unnoticed, that when a Country or person deposits gold, or any other asset in a foreign institution for safe keeping, it should be able to withdraw it at will. The fact that in this situation it cannot, one must also bear in mind that if you personally hold any gold or silver deposits overseas; in order to avoid possible home Government confiscation, there is little to stop Governments liaising with each other to either prevent, or delay, such transfers from taking place.
Now this situation with Venezuela on the face of it may be regarded as unique, but then so would a situation if your home government wished to confiscate your own holdings be! Now we are not at all saying you should not deposit your gold or silver abroad, of course within the constraints of the law, but we would certainly caution you against depositing all of it in one particular country and would always recommend that you also keep some close at hand too – after all, banks, financial institutions and Governments have a very long history of working together, and not always for the benefit of their customers.
UK Leaves Fate of Venezuela’s Gold Up to the Bank of England
Bloomberg–17 hours ago
The U.K. government said it is up to the Bank of England to decide what to do with the “significant amount” of gold it is holding under contract for …
Bank of England blocks Nicolas Maduro from withdrawing $1.7b in gold
In-Depth–NEWS.com.au–27 Jan 2019Bank of England blocks Nicolas Maduro’s $1.2 billion gold withdrawal
In-Depth–Business Standard–27 Jan 2019
Bank of England blocks Nicolas Maduro’s $1.2 billion gold withdrawal
EU takes sides against Maduro in Venezuela’s power struggle
Patricia Laya & Ethan Bronner & Tim Ross | Laya & Ethan Bronner & Tim Ross | Bloomberg
Last Updated at January 28, 2019 02:21 IST
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It’s time central bankers came out of their closets, paid heed to public
Nicolas Maduro’s embattled Venezuelan regime, desperate to hold onto the dwindling cash pile it has abroad, was stymied in its bid to pull $1.2 billion worth of gold out of the Bank of England, according to people familiar with the matter.
The Bank of England’s decision to deny Maduro officials’ withdrawal request comes after top U.S. officials, including Secretary of State Michael Pompeo and National Security Adviser John Bolton, lobbied their U.K. counterparts to help cut off the regime from its overseas assets, according to one of the people, who asked not to be identified.
The U.K. followed the U.S. and other countries on Wednesday in recognizing Juan Guaido, the National Assembly leader, as the legitimate president of Venezuela. Maduro, an authoritarian ruler who’s overseen the country’s collapse into economic chaos, refuses to give up power, though, and has the backing of the military. The European Union threatened to recognize Guaido unless a “credible” presidential election is called with eight days, according to a draft statement seen by Bloomberg.
The U.S. officials are trying to steer Venezuela’s overseas assets to Guaido to help bolster his chances of effectively taking control of the government. The $1.2 billion of gold is a big chunk of the $8 billion in foreign reserves held by the Venezuelan central bank. The whereabouts of the rest of them is largely unknown. Turkey, though, has emerged recently as a destination for freshly mined Venezuelan gold.
The U.S. is leading an international effort to persuade Turkey — a key Maduro backer, along with Russia and China — to stop being a conduit for these gold shipments. Europe’s shift of position clarifies the international battles lines over Venezuela and aligns key powers such as Germany, France and Spain more closely with the Trump administration.
Nicolas Maduro’s embattled Venezuelan regime, desperate to hold onto the dwindling cash pile it has abroad, was stymied in its bid to pull $1.2 billion worth of gold out of the Bank of England, according to people familiar with the matter.
The Bank of England’s decision to deny Maduro officials’ withdrawal request comes after top U.S. officials, including Secretary of State Michael Pompeo and National Security Adviser John Bolton, lobbied their U.K. counterparts to help cut off the regime from its overseas assets, according to one of the people, who asked not to be identified.
The U.K. followed the U.S. and other countries on Wednesday in recognizing Juan Guaido, the National Assembly leader, as the legitimate president of Venezuela. Maduro, an authoritarian ruler who’s overseen the country’s collapse into economic chaos, refuses to give up power, though, and has the backing of the military. The European Union threatened to recognize Guaido unless a “credible” presidential election is called with eight days, according to a draft statement seen by Bloomberg.
The U.S. officials are trying to steer Venezuela’s overseas assets to Guaido to help bolster his chances of effectively taking control of the government. The $1.2 billion of gold is a big chunk of the $8 billion in foreign reserves held by the Venezuelan central bank. The whereabouts of the rest of them is largely unknown. Turkey, though, has emerged recently as a destination for freshly mined Venezuelan gold.
The U.S. is leading an international effort to persuade Turkey — a key Maduro backer, along with Russia and China — to stop being a conduit for these gold shipments. Europe’s shift of position clarifies the international battles lines over Venezuela and aligns key powers such as Germany, France and Spain more closely with the Trump administration.
Free Elections
“We want democracy and free elections in Venezuela,” Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez said Saturday. “I want to state absolutely clearly that if within eight days, fair, free and transparent elections are not called in Venezuela, Spain will recognize Juan Guaido as president.”
Retrieving the gold in the Bank of England has been a major priority for the Maduro regime for weeks. Back in mid-December, Calixto Ortega, the president of Venezuela’s central bank, led a delegation to London that sought to gain access to it, according to two people with knowledge of the matter.
But those talks were unsuccessful, and communications between the two sides have broken down since. Central bank officials in Caracas have been ordered to no longer try contacting the Bank of England. These central bankers have been told that Bank of England staffers will not respond to them, citing compliance reasons, said a Venezuelan official, who asked not to be identified.
Gold Legacy
The Bank of England declined to comment on its handling of Venezuelan assets, saying it “provides banking services – including gold custody services – to a large number of customers” and “does not comment on any of those relationships.”
When asked about the fate of Venezuelan assets abroad Friday, Pompeo declined to comment, as did a spokesman for the National Security Council. The Treasury released a statement saying that the U.S. “will use its economic and diplomatic tools to ensure that commercial transactions by the Venezuelan Government, including those involving its state-owned enterprises and international reserves, are consistent with” its recognition of Juan Guaido as the interim president of Venezuela.
A press official for Maduro declined to comment.
Gold has formed a crucial part of Venezuela’s foreign reserves for years. Hugo Chavez, the late socialist leader and mentor to Maduro, plowed much of the country’s oil wealth into gold in part because of his disdain for the U.S. dollar. In 2011, Chavez ordered the repatriation of $11 billion worth of gold bars from the Bank of England and other foreign institutions. As Venezuela fell deeper into economic crisis years later, though, the Maduro regime began selling them off to raise the cash it desperately needed to fund imports and to try, unsuccessfully, to avoid defaulting on its foreign debt.
“The first rule of business as we speak is to stop the Maduro government from liquidating international assets of the country and steal them,” Ricardo Hausmann, a Harvard economics professor and long-time critic of Maduro who’s been speaking with Guaido, said in an interview Friday.
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Greg_L-W.
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