The Simon Wiesenthal Centre is studying information that Venezuelan dictator Nicolás Maduro maintained his regime by selling 73.3 tons of gold, valued at $3 billion to Middle East and Turkish companies between 2017 and February this year.
The Wall Street Journal also exposed that a further 7.4 tons of gold ingots, valued at $300 million, was sent by Russian aircraft from Caracas to Entebbe for “refining” before being sent on to a Middle Eastern country.
The transactions violate United States law.
Dr. Shimon Samuels, the Centre’s Director for International Relations in 1997 had access to the Spanish Central Bank archives on gold transports between 1936 and 1945.
Data revealed Nazi ingots containing ‘Zahngold,’ gold fillings pulled from the mouths of Jewish corpses between the gas chambers and the crematoria.
The Centre noted, “These ingots were sent from Germany to dictator Francisco Franco’s Spain, with part going on to South America, principally Paraguay, for passage from Argentina to Venezuela, to sustain ODESSA, the so-called network of Nazi fugitives bent on building a 4th Reich.”
Samuels added, “Another holding in the Madrid Central Bank was reportedly transferred to the British Embassy in April 1945 and sent to the UK as a form of ‘life insurance’ for Franco and to prevent a Communist takeover of Spain.
“British Foreign Minister, Malcolm Rifkind, in response to the Wiesenthal Centre 1997 inquiry, referred to a cache of gold coins sent to London from Germany, a transfer unknown to the watchdog Tripartite Gold Commission. Rifkind claimed no knowledge of the Spanish ingots.
“The chaotic immediate post-war conditions and super fungibility do not rule out part of the consignment being sent on to the United States, ostensibly for Marshall Plan anti-Communist measures in Europe, diverted to Caracas to pay for oil provided to the American war effort.”
He continues, “Ugandan police claimed the gold flown by two Russian aircraft in March, had United States markings. In Entebbe airport, the shipment was taken by African Gold Refinery (AGR) for ‘refining’ and then ’export to the Middle East.
“Of the two lots sent in March, the first of 3.8 tons was treated and sent out of Uganda immediately. The second of 3.6 tons were seized and impounded by Ugandan police. Apparently, President Museveni ordered the release of the gold and its trace was lost, though two tons were reportedly auctioned in Turkey.”
Samuels added, “Had the Uganda shipment been held for ‘DNA’ and routing analysis, justice may still have been done for the Venezuelan people and integrity of Holocaust memory.”
The Centre noted further, “Despite AGR claims that the final destination was Dubai, via Turkey, if the final destination was a ‘Muslim country’, possibly to Iran as end-user to fund terror, Maduro may be the agent of a historic irony. Gold stolen from Jews in the Shoah to finance another genocidal intent, this time against the Jewish State.
“Ugandan police remarked that ‘the paperwork with the bars showed that they were from the 1940’s and other witnesses claimed to have seen that many of the ingots had stamps clumsily scratched off to hide their origin.’”
Samuels wants a full investigation into activities of AGR and its management’s reportedly nefarious role in the theft of the Venezuelan people’s property, the origin of its gold transport and involvement in a possible Holocaust travesty.
By Leah Waxler
