In perhaps the biggest story in gold since Hugo Chavez sent shock-waves throughout the gold market in mid 2011 (and propelled gold up $300 to a record $1915), the German Federal Accountability Office has ruled that the Bundesbank must conduct an audit on German Central Bank gold holdings, and in anticipation, has begun the repatriation of German gold from the NY Fed. The Bundesbank will request the NY Fed ship 50 tones of German gold back to the motherland a year for the next 3 years!
It appears de Germans are about to receive a crash course in the lesson He who owns the gold makes the rules (aka possession is 999/1000ths of the law).
Assuming that the NY Fed does decide to comply with the Bundesbank’s request to keep up appearances for the other central banks, we wish the cartel luck in finding 150 tons of TUNGSTEN FREE PHYZZ over the next 3 years as the Bundesbank reportedly will PHYSICALLY VERIFY THE GOLD. So much for the cartel plans to fill repatriation requests with tungsten salted phyzz.
From Spiegel http://www.spiegel.de/wirtschaft/soziales/rechnungshof-fordert-bundesbank-zur-inventur-der-goldreserven-auf-a-862719.html (h/t ZH):
Germany has the second largest gold reserves in the world, nearly 3400 tons. Supposedly, anyway. Because stocks have never been checked for authenticity and weight. Now, the Federal Court has asked the Bundesbank to examine the gold reserves abroad regularly.
The German central bank gold is safely stored in vaults in Frankfurt, New York, Paris and London. Checked really but apparently no one. The Federal Court has the Bundesbank now anyway required regular inspection and inventory of the vast gold reserves abroad. The auditors explain this in a report on Monday has become known to the budget committee of the Bundestag with the “high value of gold holdings.”
The samples stored at other German banks stocks were also never by the Bundesbank itself or by other independent auditors “added physically and for authenticity and weight” checked. Actually talk on the subject numerous theories – so should the U.S. gold reserves at Fort Knox have long been looted.
The Bundesbank has on the USA’s second largest gold reserves in the world. End of 2011 there were 3396 tons, worth 133 billion euros. After the soaring price of gold is likely to reach about 142 billion euros currently even. Secures the gold bars by the Bundesbank in own vaults in Frankfurt as well as at three bearing points abroad: The U.S. Federal Reserve Bank in New York, Bank of France in Paris and the Bank of England in London.
Bundesbank gets tons of gold from New York
The Court had determined the order of the Bundestag that the Federal Bank reviews its overseas gold reserves stored exactly. It is disputed whether the Bundesbank experienced for years practice sufficient to rely only on a written confirmation to the gold bars by the foreign central banks.
The Court recommends that the Bundesbank to negotiate with the three foreign central banks the right to physical verification of stocks. With the implementation of this recommendation, the Bundesbank has begun according to the report. They also decided to bring in the next three years to 50 tons each of the past at the Fed in New York gold to Germany to get it here to undergo a thorough examination. In the report, several points are blackened. In effect, the paper is not clear exactly how much gold is in which foreign central bank.
The information held in the Federal Bank headquarters holdings consist of 82,857 according to the report bullion stored mostly in sealed containers with 50 bars, which are kept in four separate locked safe boxes. Part of it (6183 bar) stored on open shelves, therefore in a separate vault – the so-called gold chamber. To secure the gold it says in the report: “The vault closure is double, the inner seals and the gold chamber under a triple lock.”
For those unaware, Germany’s official gold holdings are 3,400 tons. Perhaps Germany announcing the repatriation of 150 tons out of its 4,000 (less than 4%!) in gold reserves indicates that only 150 tons of un-hypothecated, actual, tungsten-free phyzz remain in NY and London?