FILE - Venezuela's President
Nicolas Maduro touches a gold bar as he speaks during a meeting with the
ministers responsible for the economic sector at Miraflores Palace in
Caracas, Venezuela, March 22, 2018.
CARACAS (Reuters) - At least 8 tons of gold were removed from the
Venezuelan central bank’s vaults last week, an opposition legislator and
three government sources told Reuters, in the latest sign of President
Nicolas Maduro’s desperation to raise hard currency amid tightening
sanctions.
The gold was removed in government vehicles between Wednesday and
Friday last week when there were no regular security guards present at
the bank, Legislator Angel Alvarado and the three government sources
said.
“They plan to sell it abroad illegally,” Alvarado said in an interview.
The central bank did not respond to requests for comment.
Alvarado
and the government sources, who spoke on condition of anonymity, did
not say where the central bank was sending the gold. They said the
operation took place while central bank head Calixto Ortega was abroad
on a trip.
In 2018, 23 tons of mined gold were transported from
Venezuela to Istanbul by plane, according to sources and Turkish
government data.
The
central bank bought part of this gold from primitive gold-mining camps
in the south of Venezuela and exported it to Turkey and other countries
to finance the purchase of basic food supplies, given widespread
shortages, according to more than 30 people with knowledge of the trade.
Some 20 tons of monetary gold were also removed from the central
bank’s vaults in 2018, according to the bank’s data, leaving 140 tonnes
remaining, the lowest level in 75 years.
Abu Dhabi investment
firm Noor Capital said on Feb. 1 that it bought 3 tons of gold on Jan.
21 from the Venezuelan central bank and would not buy more until
Venezuela’s situation stabilized. Noor Capital said its purchase was in
accordance with “international standards and laws in place” as of that
date.
Maduro’s government has been seeking to repatriate some 31
tons of gold in the Bank of England’s vaults on fears it could be caught
up in international sanctions on the country.
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“As
you would expect, the Bank does not comment on individual customer
relationships,” the Bank of England wrote in response to a request for
comment. “In all its operations, the Bank observes the highest standards
of risk management and abides by all relevant legislation.”
Venezuelan
Foreign Minister Jorge Arreaza said on Wednesday, during a United
Nations meeting in Geneva, that the Bank of England had blocked the
government’s assets.
Maduro’s government has resorted to selling
off gold after falling oil production, the country’s wider economic
collapse and mounting sanctions hit public income and made it hard for
the country to access credit.
The United States, which is backing
an attempt by opposition leader Juan Guaido to force Maduro to step
down and call new elections, has warned bankers and traders not to deal
in Venezuelan gold.
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