The Central Bank of Yemen (CBY) Headquarters in Sana’a has on Tuesday issued a statement regarding an announcement issued by the Saudi-occupied bank branch in Aden.
In its statement, the CBY said that it has followed the announcement of the coalition-controlled Bank’s branch in Aden, which stated that the Bank of England had agreed to release the balances of the Republic of Yemen – which have been frozen since 2016 at an amount of 82 million pounds – and to grant the authority to dispose of the funds to the Bank’s occupied branch in Aden.
The CBY statement by Sana’a stated that it objects to this procedure.
In this regard, the CBY noted that the reasons that led to the freezing of the funds of the Republic of Yemen – represented by the balances of the CBY – with the Bank of England still exist, and therefore the release of those funds and granting the authority to dispose of them to the Central Bank’s branch in Aden “is not justified and will lead to great damage to the rights of the Yemeni people in general, and to the banks operating in Yemen and their depositors in particular.”
“This procedure means that the Bank of England is to implement agreements with persons who have no legal capacity to represent the Yemeni people – those in charge of the branch of the Central Bank in Aden – and who were previously accused of corruption and money laundering.
The Central Bank branch in Aden represents one of the tools of the economic war in the hands of the aggression countries to implement its plans in the country, through which printed money, loans and external balances, are used outside the framework of the law to finance military operations and the war on Yemen.” the CBY statement read.
“The balances deposited with the Bank of England are part of the reserve balances of banks operating in Yemen, and handing them over to the branch of the Central Bank in Aden is considered a participation from the Bank of England in the corruption crimes of the Central Bank branch in Aden, Hadi’s government and the aggression countries against Yemen.”
Based on the principles of keeping the economy safe from the tools of war and of preserving the rights of the Yemeni people and the money of the banks operating in Yemen, the CBY called on the Bank of England to abide by international and banking laws and standards related to transparency, impartiality, accountability and the rule of law.
In its statement, the CBY asked the Bank of England, if it has true desires to help the Yemeni people and alleviate the crisis and the economic blockade imposed on them, to use the balances deposited with it, under the supervision of a third party, to pay part of the value of the local public debt balances owed to banks operating in Yemen since before the war and aggression against Yemen.
The CBY’s statement confirmed what the Parliament in Sana’a affirmed in its letter to the Bank of England dated 18 October 2017, as well as on 26 April 2018, that “the Yemeni people retain their legal right to sue any financial institution that allows any party using the assets of the Republic of Yemen.”
