UK Supreme Court Accepts Appeal By Guaido's Team in Venezuelan Gold Litigation

LONDON, (Sputnik) – The UK Supreme Court has granted the legal team representing Venezuela's self-proclaimed president Juan Guaidó in litigation over the Venezuelan gold reserves held in the Bank of England's permission to appeal a previous ruling by the UK Court of Appeals, as stated in the court order forwarded to Sputnik on Thursday.

“After consideration of the Appellant's application for permission to appeal the order made by the Court of Appeal on 6 October 2020 and of the notice of objection filed by the Respondent, the Court ordered that the Appellant be granted permission to appeal on all grounds,” the court order said.

The legal battle for the gold began after Guaidó declared himself an interim president in the wake of public protests in Venezuela back in January 2019. After that, the Bank of England refused to fulfill a request made by the Venezuelan Central Bank (BCV) to have access to the gold bullion, valued at an estimated $1.2 billion, to buy medicines and equipment to tackle the COVID-19 pandemic.

Residents help to unload and stack boxes of basic food staples, such as pasta, sugar and flour, provided by a government food assistance program, in Caracas’ slum of Petare, Venezuela, Thursday, April 30, 2020.

© AP Photo / Ariana Cubillos

The Bank of England claimed that there was a lack of clarity as to who was ruling Venezuela, so the BCV took it to trial before the London Commercial Court, which, in turn, ruled in July against the board appointed by Venezuela's President Nicolas Maduro.

The judge presiding over the case then said that since Guaidó had been "unequivocally" recognized by the United Kingdom as the president of Venezuela, following a statement made by then-Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt in 2019, his ad hoc administrative board had a right over the gold.

Gold bars sit inside a military plane before being taken to Venezuela's Central Bank, at Carlota military airport in Caracas, Venezuela, Thursday, March 1, 2018

© AP Photo / Ariana Cubillos

On October 5, the Court of Appeals overturned that ruling and directed the high court to conduct a detailed factual inquiry to determine whether the UK government recognizes that Maduro does indeed continue to exercise de facto powers of head of state and government in Venezuela.

The UK Supreme Court also denied the legal team representing Maduro´s BCV board permission to cross-appeal on the ground that it “does not raise an arguable question of law,” as well as a request for an expedited hearing.