Supreme Court grants Guaidó Board permission to appeal in Venezuela Gold dispute
Venezuela
December 14 2020
On 9 December 2020, the Supreme Court granted permission to appeal to the “Guaidó Board” of the Central Bank of Venezuela (the “BCV”) against the judgment of the Court of Appeal in the
Venezuelan Gold dispute. The rival “Guaidó Board” and “Maduro Board” of the BCV are vying for control of the BCV’s assets in London, including nearly US$ 2 billion of gold bullion stored at the Bank of England.
At first instance, and following a trial of preliminary issues of Recognition and Justiciability, Mr Justice Teare held that Her Majesty’s Government (“HMG”) had since 4 February 2019 recognised Juan Guaidó as the constitutional interim President of Venezuela, necessarily to the exclusion of Nicolás Maduro. Teare J also held that interim President Guaidó’s appointment of the Guaidó Board and of a Special Attorney General were acts of the Venezuelan st