Summary

Receivers Appointed by the Court:
Central Bank of Venezuela
The Governor and Company of the Bank of England
The Ad Hoc Administrative Board of the Central Bank of Venezuela
The Board of the Central Bank of Venezuela

This is the trial of two preliminary issues in two related matters. Each matter concerns the entitlement of persons or bodies to give instructions to financial institutions on behalf of the Central Bank of Venezuela ("BCV") with regard to foreign currency reserves. The Bank of England ("BoE") holds gold reserves of about US$1 billion for the BCV and Deutsche Bank ("DB") is obliged to pay the proceeds of a gold swap contract to the BCV in the sum of about US$120 million, currently held by court appointed receivers.

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Meanwhile, on 13 May 2019 DB had issued an arbitration claim form in this court seeking the appointment of receivers to hold and manage the proceeds of a gold swap contract concluded between DB and the BCV in 2015-2017. The swap contract was governed by English law and provided for disputes to be resolved by arbitration in London. The arbitration claim was issued pursuant to section 44 of the Arbitration Act 1996 because of conflicting instructions received by DB with regard to the payment of the proceeds. The court appointed the receivers, following which DB transferred the proceeds of the gold swap contract to the receivers. In September and October 2019 the Guaidó Board and the Maduro Board served statements of case setting out, respectively, the entitlement of Mr. Hernandez and Mr. Ortega to give instructions on behalf of the BCV.

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