By John Revill
ZURICH, Jan 6 (Reuters) – Venezuela transported gold worth almost 4.14 billion Swiss francs ($5.20 billion) to Switzerland during the early years of the leadership of ousted President Nicolas Maduro, customs data shows.
The South American country sent 113 metric tons of the precious metal to Switzerland from 2013 – when Maduro took office – to 2016, according to data reviewed by Reuters.
The gold originated from Venezuela’s central bank, Swiss broadcaster SRF said, at a time when the government was selling down gold to support its economy.
There were no gold exports from Venezuela to Switzerland from 2017, when EU sanctions were imposed, to 2025, customs data showed.
Maduro was seized by U.S. special forces in a raid in Caracas on January 3, and faces charges in a New York court including drug trafficking and narco-terrorism.
On Monday, Switzerland ordered the freezing of assets held in the country by Maduro, and 36 associates, but did not give any information on possible value or source of such funds.
It is unknown if there is any link between any such assets and gold transferred from the central bank.
The gold, from Venezuela’s reserves, was likely transferred to Switzerland for processing, certification and onward transport, SRF reported.
Switzerland is one of the world’s biggest centres for gold refining, with the country hosting five large refineries.
The central bank of Venezuela has sold down its gold reserves to support the country’s economy and raise hard currency in the face of U.S. sanctions.
“There was big distress selling by the Venezuelan central bank from 2012 to 2016. A lot of this will have come to Switzerland,” said Rhona O’Connell, a markets analyst at StoneX.
“Thereafter it could have stayed with counterparties in the financial sector, or sold as small bars to Asia, or anywhere in the world.”
The gold exports to Switzerland fell to zero in 2017 when the European Union sanctioned various Venezuelan individuals accused of human rights violations or undermining democracy. Switzerland adopted the EU sanctions in early 2018.
The sanctions did not contain a general Swiss embargo on gold imports from Venezuela.
“There was probably a major drop-off in exports after because the Venezuelan central bank simply ran out of gold,” said StoneX’s O’Connell.
($1 = 0.7924 Swiss francs)
(Reporting by John Revill; Editing by Aidan Lewis)
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