This week, legal teams representing Maduro and Guaido will be at the UK Supreme Court for the last stage of the gold case. The Bank of England refused in 2019 to release the gold after the UK recognized "de-jure" Guaido as the interim president of Venezuela. Ahead of the Monday 19th July case, British Foreign Office clarified that the UK are recognizing Guaido as the only legitimate President of Venezuela since February 2019. British Foreign Office has been invited by the Supreme Court to clarify its position with regards to whom Her Majesty's Government, in their view, legally represents Venezuela.
Last week, the U.S. government authorized shipments to Venezuela of liquefied petroleum gas, mainly used in the OPEC nation as cooking fuel and currently in short supply, causing people to burn large amounts of wood. The Office of Foreign Assets Control, part of the Treasury Department, issued a license allowing shipments of the gas in transactions involving the government of Venezuela, state energy company PDVSA or any entity in which PDVSA owns a 50% or greater interest. The license does not allow any payment-in-kind of oil or oil products, OFAC said. Many people in Venezuela burn LPG for cooking fuel but it has become scarce as the country's economy has collapsed. U.S. sanctions on PDVSA have choked investments in its refining network, leading more people to burn wood for fuel and to long lines for diesel and gasoline.
The Supreme Court of Justice of Venezuela (TSJ) held on Wednesday a meeting with representatives of the European Union (EU) to ratify its independent nature and the commitment to ensure compliance with constitutional rights and guarantees. The EU team has been in the Venezuelan capital since last week, as part of an “Exploratory Technical Mission” that assesses the country’s conditions, to decide whether or not the bloc will participate as an observer in the regional elections next November. Through a press office, the Supreme Court offered details about the meeting held in Caracas, where EU members were able to ask about the structure and functions of the Supreme Court in electoral processes.
Finally, last week, Citigroup announced it plans to exit Venezuela by selling its remaining business there, ending more than a century of operating in the South American country. The New York-based firm agreed to sell the unit to Banco Nacional de Credito, has already obtained regulatory approval and expects to complete the deal in coming weeks, the BA Times reported.
For Venezuela bonds, the de-jure and de-facto administrations disagree on how bondholders should look at prescriptions periods. On 28th September 2020, Venezuela’s opposition-designated attorney general, appointed by National Assembly President Juan Guaido, published a statement saying that it is the view of the Guaido team that the contractual prescription period has not begun to run in respect of an overdue amount of principal or interest payable under any of the bonds issued by the government. According to this statement, the 10 and 3 year periods set out in the prescription clause of most Venezuela, PDVSA and ELECAR bonds will not begin to run unless and until: - the Fiscal Agent receives the full amount owed by the Republic and
- the holders have been notified of such event.
The attorney general also indicated that the statutory limitation period of six years under the laws of New York still applies.
This was preceded, however, by the launch on 15th September 2020 of the Maduro conditional offer and a subsequently imminent statement from Maduro’s finance minister Delcy Rodriguez who highlighted that with the third anniversary for the first missed bond payment in 2017 coming soon, prescription deadlines for interests would expire. Under the offer, bondholders would agree to renounce rights to litigate and in exchange prescriptions deadlines would be waived.
http://www.mppef.gob.ve/comunicados-oficiales/
The Maduro conditional offer expired on 14th March 2021 and won’t be extended again, however the government said it will keep talking with Venezuela, PDVSA and Electricidad de Caracas bondholders in order to reach agreements under the same conditions as those with whom the Tolling Agreements are entered into. The proposed mechanism would require licenses from the US Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control, which administers sanctions. |
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