Iran Press/America: The English Court of Appeal reversed an earlier lower court's decision of whom the UK recognized as Venezuela's legitimate president.
Venezuela has found itself in a crippling political crisis ever since a hotly-contested presidential election in 2019.
The UK government's earlier statements on recognition of Venezuela's opposition leader Juan Guaidó was misinterpreted in terms of his effective control over the country, the ruling stated.
Britain's recognition of the de facto leader "is to my mind ambiguous, or at any rate less than unequivocal," court justices led by Judge Stephen Males said in a statement.
In July this year, the UK said it recognizes Guaido as Venezuela's interim president citing a "one voice" doctrine. "The judiciary and the executive must speak with one voice," high court judge Nigel Teare said. "There cannot be two Presidents of Venezuela."
In early 2018, Maduro approached the Bank of England to remove gold worth about $550 million - or 16.5 tons - from its vaults and return it to South America. Since that time, the value of an ounce of gold has risen by more than 40%.
It is common for governments in emerging-market economies to store gold with the central banks of more developed economies.
But Guaidó begged the UK not to allow access to the Venezuelan gold reserves held by the Bank of England by President Nicolas Maduro, as he sought to safeguard the holdings in the UK.
Again this year, Maduro demanded the gold to help his cash-starved nation battle the COVID-19 pandemic. But the central bank refused to hand it over. The Bank of England declined to comment to Business Insider.
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