Deutsche Bundesbank Had to Leave 1200 Tons of Gold in NY, they still can't go in and check or count the gold.

Deutsche Bundesbank Had to Leave 1200 Tons of Gold in NY, they still can't go in and check or count the gold. HT: Cryptogon. Source: Norberthaering.

With big fanfare, Deutsche Bundesbank announced on February 9 that ahead of plan they had repatriated 300 tons of gold from New York. This put a positive spin on a rather disturbing fact –1236 tons of gold that is supposed to be part of Germany’s currency reserve will continue to be kept outside of German control in New York – indefinitely.

The German gold in question is being kept in storage at the New York Fed, an institution that is owned and controlled by Wall-Street-banks, in a country, whose current president considers it an imposition that the law and so-called judges tell him what he is allowed to do and not allowed to do.

I am not criticizing the Bundesbank for storing 37 percent of Germany’s official gold in in a place there it has no control over it. It seems clear that they negotiated hard with the US and acted rather shrewdly. Their negotiation position was much enhanced in 2012 by the leakage of a report of the German Court of Auditors, which was very critical of the conditions under which German gold was being held in New York. This created public and political pressure on the Bundesbank to renegotiate and to get that gold out of New York. At the same time, the US-side could hardly afford to snub this demand, because there was lots of speculation, even in the US, that something was amiss with the gold reserves of the US and the rest of the world that were stored in the country. 

The way in which the official gold of the US, and the gold held in custody for other countries, is guarded against public scrutiny and shielded from its owners, gives fodder to any number of conspiracy theories. Had the New York Fed refused to let a foreign central bank, which was under such obvious pressure, retrieve some of their gold, these conspiracy theories around official gold might very well have become intense enough to damage trust in the dollar.

Reaching an agreement was apparently not easy. On the way, the Bundesbank announced a relocation plan for the next three years and then, very soon, superseded it by anouther one that allowed time until 2020 for finishing the intended relocations. First they said they were going to publish the report of the auditors, then they didn’t. This kind of behavior would not be expected if the semi-official story (from unnamed sources) was true, that the Bundesbank just had to say how much gold they wanted at what time and the Fed would have put it at the gate at that time with no further questions asked.

The Dutch Get in the Way

According to its (second) gold relocation and storage plan, unveiled in early 2013, the Bundesbank will be storing half of Germany’s gold reserves in its own vaults in Frankfurt am Main by 2020. This required a transfer to Frankfurt am Main of 300 tons of gold from New York and 283 tons of gold from Paris. 1236 tons will continue to be kept in storage in New York, plus (a much more reasonable) 432 tons in London.

In the summer of 2013 Bundesbank started with a first transport of 5 tons of gold to Frankfurt and then stopped the transports again right away. In hindsight, a plausible explanation for this unusual behavior could be a when secret repatriation program of the Dutch central bank, which was only made public when it was concluded in 2014. 

Apparently, the Dutch came out and said something like “If the Germans are allowed to take out their gold, we want to have our’s too.” This created the threat that more and more countries would use the precedent of the Fed’s lenience with the Germans to demand getting back their own gold. 

The withdrawals were halted until a plan was in place of how everybody could be treated the same and nobody could take out too much gold. Judging from what the Germans and the Dutch did, the scheme seems to be that the US will allow central banks to repatriate as much gold from New York as is absolutely necessary to allow them to have half of their gold at home.

After that was settled, the Dutch were first to be allowed to withdraw their allotment. They were finished in late summer 2014. The Bundesbank managed to get 85 tons out in the rest of the year. In 2015, another as yet unknown institution besides the Bundesbank withdraw gold -30 tons overall. The Bundesbank got 99 tons back. 

In 2016, finally, Bundesbank was alone in withdrawing gold from New York. This might explain why the Fed was more forthcoming than the Bundesbank had expected and handed out the final 111 tons of their 300-ton-allotment.

A hiden message

When the Bundesbank had announced their plan of where to keep how much gold in the future, it was craftily sold as a message to the German people and politicians that they would get a chunk of the gold that was in New York under their control and store half of the official German gold in Germany. This, however, was not the main message.


The main message had New York and Washington as addressees. It consisted in the promise that in exchange for getting those 300 tons, they would leave four times as much in New York and stop forever fussing about it. This is my reading anyway, based on what I understand is usual diplomatic custom and lingo in such affairs. 

This way of reading it is bolstered by the fact that the conveniently critical Court of Auditors has gone completely silent since the Bundesbank announced their new plan for where to store the gold. 

This is not what one should have expected. None of the concerns of the auditors has been addressed in any significant way. The Bundesbank can still not go in and check or count the gold. There are still the terms and conditions of the New York Fed, which say that they give no guarantee. 

If it should turn out that the gold has been stolen in some mysterious way, that’s bad luck. None of the other problems were fixed and no convincing reason was provided why it should be in Germany’s interest to keep such a large portion of its gold outside its control. The fact that a fifth of the gold that used to be kept in New York under such unfavorable conditions has been retrieved, is not a very convincing reason for the auditors to fall completely silent. After all, they had clearly said that the way that the German national treasure is stored there, is against the law. Read the full story Here.

'CHANGE' - US Gold Reserves shrink as Europe's Banks Seek Financial Independence.

'CHANGE' - US Gold Reserves shrink as Europe's Banks Seek Financial Independence. (SP).

European Central banks keep demanding the return of their gold bullion from the vaults of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, reducing the gold stockpile kept under the streets of Manhattan to its lowest level in decades; economist Lew Rockwell is convinced that the move is an indication that Europe is desperately striving for independence. Read the full story here.

A Pole and a German citizen claim to have found a Gold-laden Nazi train in Poland?

A Pole and a German citizen claim to have found a Gold-laden Nazi train in Poland? (TheNews).

The development revives rumours of German ghost trains hidden in the mountains of Lower Silesia as the Red Army advanced towards Berlin at the tail-end of World War II.

The claimants want 10 percent of the value of the find in return for revealing the location of the supposedly 150m-long armoured train.

As outlined in their claim to Wałbrzych authorities, “the train contains valuable objects, costly industrial materials and precious metal ores.”

Marika Tokarska of the District Office in Wałbrzych has said that although there are “various uncertainties regarding the matter... there are many details that give credence to the fact that the train has been discovered.”

Rumours have endured over the decades that the Nazis built secret tunnels in the mountains of Lower Silesia. Wałbrzych, which was part of Germany prior to World War II and named Waldenburg, was taken by the Red Army on 8 May 1945.

On Stalin's orders Poland's borders were shifted west following the war, and the city became part of Poland. Most local ethnic Germans were resettled west by the Allies to within Germany's new borders.

As Germans fled the advancing Red Army at the end of the war, innumerable valuables were evacuated. Thousands of these, including artworks such as Raphael's 'Portrait of a Young Man', which had been looted from Poland's Czartoryski Museum during the war, have not been traced until this day. (nh/rk) More here.

Two men reportedly discovered a Nazi train in Poland which could have $9 billion worth of gold still inside: http://t.co/cuwFxDHNMq

— AJ+ (@ajplus) August 20, 2015

Russian Gold production: Too much of a good thing?

Russian Gold production: Too much of a good thing? (RBTH).

Russian gold producers may need to reduce their mining operations to prevent prices from falling further as the result of an increase in supply on the market.

Russia is the world’s third-largest gold-producing country. Over much of the past decade, the rising price of gold made it a safe haven for investors put off by the volatility of stock markets. But in 2013, gold prices began to fall, and many market forecasters today think this trend is set to continue – due in part to a glut of gold on the market. Russian gold producers remain undeterred. 

By the end of 2013, for the first time in 25 years, Russia surpassed the U.S. in the total output of mined gold, reaching third place among gold-producing countries. Gold mining in Russia has been growing rapidly in recent years. According to the Federal State Statistics Service, also known as Rosstat, the amount of mined gold was 12% in 2013 and 7% in 2012.

According to the Russian Gold Producers Union, gold extraction and production in the first half of 2014 increased 27% in comparison with the same period the previous year and exceeded 116.7 tons. 

“We see that the consumption of physical gold is stable,” says Nikolai Zelensky, general director of Nordgold. “It is mostly consumed by developing countries such as China and India.” 

In his words, for example, China’s demand for gold in 2014 is approximately 1,000 tons a year, which is about 25% of world consumption. 

“Bearing in mind that Russia has a series of projects that gold producers must implement in 2014-2015, gold production in Russia will continue growing in the upcoming four or five years,” adds Mr. Zelensky. 

Russian regions continue increasing their gold extraction. In particular, according to Vladimir Pechenyi, governor of the Magadan Region (the main gold-producing region in the Far East), the development of ore deposits will help the region mine up to 80 tons of gold a year. By comparison, in 2014, the region plans to mine only 24 tons. 

The increase in volume has done nothing to reverse the sharp fall in the price of gold in recent years. From 2012 to 2013, the average price of gold decreased 24%, while silver fell 38%. 

In his interview with the Kommersant business newspaper, CEO of Polymetal Vitaly Nesis stated that if the market price for gold falls below $1,000 an ounce, some production operations will have to be closed. 

According to Mr. Nesis, economic incentive to launch new enterprises only exists only when the price of gold rises to $1,500-$1,600 an ounce. Therefore the recovery of the market will take place only after a worldwide reduction in the production of gold and silver, Mr. Nesis concludes. Hmmm....Ok .....you are forewarned.

China, gold prices & US default threats....Where there is Smoke there's 'Tungsten Gold bars?'

China, gold prices and US default threats...."Where there is Smoke there's 'Tungsten Gold bars?'(RT).

Since August 1971, when US President Richard Nixon unilaterally tore up the Bretton Woods Treaty of 1944 and told the world that the Federal Reserve ‘gold window’ was permanently closed, Wall Street banks and US and City of London financial powers have done everything imaginable to prevent gold from again becoming the basis of trust in a currency. 

On Friday, October 11, when there was no sign of any deal between US Congress members and the Obama White House that would end the government shutdown, the Chicago CME Group, which operates Comex - the Chicago Commodity Exchange, where contracts in gold derivatives are traded - announced that at 8:42am Eastern time the trading was halted for 10 seconds after a safety mechanism was triggered because a 2-million-ounce (56.7 million grams) gold futures sell order was executed.

Something rotten in gold market.  

The result of that huge paper gold sale was that at just the time when a possible US government debt default would send investors in a panic rush to the safety of buying gold, instead, the price plunged $30 an ounce to a three-month low of $1,259.60 an ounce. Market insiders believe the reason was direct market manipulation.

David Govett, head of precious metals at bullion broker Marex Spectron, calls the sudden huge futures sale suspicious. 
"These moves are becoming more and more prevalent and to my mind have to either be the work of someone attempting to manipulate the market or someone who really shouldn’t be trusted with the sums of money they are throwing around. There are ways of entering and exiting a market so that minimum damage is caused and whoever is entering these orders has no intention of doing that," Govett said.
UBS gold trader Art Cashin echoed the suspicion. 
“…if that happens once it could be an accident of technology, or it could be a simple error. But when it happens five times over a period of months, it does raise questions. Is it being done purposefully? Is somebody trying to influence the market?” 


That ‘someone’ market sources believe is the Obama White House, in league with the Federal Reserve and key Wall Street banks that would be ruined were gold to really rise.

Hmmmm.......According to unofficial calculations, the Peoples’ Bank of China today holds about 3,500 tons of monetary gold, surpassing Germany, to make it number two in the world after the Federal Reserve.

And there are grave doubts whether the Federal Reserve actually holds the 8,044 tons of gold it claims it does. 

The former International Monetary Fund director, France’s Dominique Straus-Kahn, demanded an independent audit of the Federal Reserve gold after the US refused to deliver to the IMF 191 tons of gold agreed to under the IMF Articles of Agreement signed by the Executive Board in April 1978 to back Special Drawing Rights issuance.

Immediately before he could rush back to Paris, he was hit by a bizarre hotel sex scandal and abruptly forced to resign. 

Straus-Kahn had been shown a secret Russian intelligence report prepared for President Vladimir Putin in which ‘rogue’ CIA agents revealed that the US Federal Reserve had no gold reserves and only lied that it did.

The stakes for Washington and Wall Street in depressing the gold price are staggering. Were gold to soar to $10,000 or more, where many believe current demand-supply pressures would find it, there would be a panic selloff of the dollar and of US Treasury bonds. China now holds a record $3.7 trillion of foreign currency reserves and the US Treasury bonds and bills are about half that.

That selloff would send US interest rates sky-high, forcing a chain-reaction of corporate and personal bankruptcies that have been avoided since the financial crisis broke in 2007 only owing to record near-zero Federal Reserve interest rates. That selloff, in turn, would be the end of the US as the world’s sole superpower. Little wonder the Obama Administration is manipulating gold. It cannot last very long at this pace, however. Read the full story here.


Like Nessie these 'Stories' pop up once in a while:



Related: Hmmm.....Flashback: MFS - The Other News - March 26 th :  "Not everything that shines is Gold !" Tungsten Filled 1 kilo Gold Bar Discovered in UK.
Within mere hours of this scam being identified – Chinese officials had many of the perpetrators in custody.
And here’s what the Chinese allegedly uncovered: Roughly 15 years ago – during the Clinton Administration [think Robert Rubin, Sir Alan Greenspan and Lawrence Summers] – between 1.3 and 1.5 million 400 oz tungsten blanks were allegedly manufactured by a very high-end, sophisticated refiner in the USA [more than 16 Thousand metric tonnes]. Subsequently, 640,000 of these tungsten blanks received their gold plating and WERE shipped to Ft. Knox and remain there to this day. I know folks who have copies of the original shipping docs with dates and exact weights of “tungsten” bars shipped to Ft. Knox.

Another "Swiss Gold Bars Scam" discovered - Tungsten-Filled 10 Oz Gold Bar Found In The Middle Of Manhattan's Jewelry District.

Video - Nick Barisheff: What’s Different Than The Other 65 Hyperinflations Is, This Time, We Are Going To Have Global Hyperinflation.

Nick Barisheff: What’s Different Than The Other 65 Hyperinflations Is, This Time, We Are Going To Have Global Hyperinflation.HT: InvestmentWatch. “People are perceiving the drop in price as a gigantic buying opportunity. It’s on sale at a lower price.” The dollar is going to dramatically lose value. Barisheff predicts, “What’s different than the other 65 hyperinflations is, this time, we are going to have global hyperinflation.”

http://usawatchdog.com/global-hyperinflation-coming-nick-barisheff/ Nick Barisheff, President and CEO of Bullion Management Group, says nothing has changed to justify gold’s dramatic price drop. Barisheff says, “When I listened to the debt ceiling debate in 2011, it became crystal clear the debt situation wasn’t going to get resolved. So, it is accelerating, and the relationship between the U.S. debt and gold is almost a perfect correlation.” Join Greg Hunter as he goes One-on-One with gold expert Nick Barisheff and author of the new book “$10,000 Gold.”

"The Great Swiss Bank Robbery" - Switzerland Revises 1934 Banking Act To Allow Bail-In Deposit Confiscations.

"The Great Swiss Bank Robbery" - Switzerland Revises 1934 Banking Act To Allow Bail-In Deposit Confiscations.(SilverDoctors).

The Swiss Financial Market Supervisory Authority (FINMA) has quietly joined the growing parade of western nations who have quietly re-written banking laws to allow depositor bail-ins upon the next banking crisis.
If Switzerland, the once ultimate safe haven for banking deposits across the world is preparing to confiscate depositors funds, there truly is no protection anywhere other than physical gold and silver in your own possession!

In the event that a bank is failing or where its capitalization is no longer adequate, the Swiss Financial Market Supervisory Authority (“FINMA”) may take measures to improve such bank’s financial viability rather than liquidating it. “Loss absorption” and “bail-in” are important instruments to support any such measures.

The Swiss document begins by advising that the FINMA now has legal authority to confiscate depositor funds, thanks to a revision of the Banking Act of 1934, completed in 2011, as well as the revision of the Bank Insolvency Ordinance completed Nov 1st 2012:

In the event that a bank is failing or where its capitalization is no longer adequate, the Swiss Financial Market
Supervisory Authority (“FINMA”) may take measures to improve such bank’s financial viability rather than
liquidating it. “Loss absorption” and “bail-in” are important instruments to support any such measures. This
is now possible as a result of a revision of the Banking Act of 8 November 1934 (the “Banking Act”) in 2011 and
the taking effect of a revised Bank Insolvency Ordinance on 1 November 2012 (the “Bank Insolvency Ordinance”)
and of a revised Capital Adequacy Ordinance on 1 January 2013 (the “Capital Adequacy Ordinance”).

The document states that The Banking Act now grants discretion to FINMA regarding depositor bail-in measures:

RELEVANT PROCEEDINGS Under the Banking Act, if there are concerns that a bank is
over-indebted or if a bank does not meet liquidity or regulatory capital requirements, the FINMA may as appropriate: (i) take protective measures; (ii) initiate bank reorganization
proceedings; or (iii) order the liquidation of the bank (bankruptcy). The Banking Act grants significant discretion to FINMA in this context. This includes, inter alia, ordering
a bank moratorium, a maturity postponement or “bail-in” measures.

And in the scope of bail-in measures, states that bail-ins are to be a measure of last resort (translation: we’ll make this sound unlikely until the banks lose their first franc):

BAIL-IN MEASURES
4.1 Scope
The loss absorption measures described above relate to capital instruments issued by the bank. In addition, the revised procedural rules as specified in the secondary legislation to the Banking Act applicable in a bank reorganization context (i.e. if FINMA believes that the bank may be successfully reorganized or if at least part of the business of the failing bank may be continued), as enacted by FINMA, provide for the competence of FINMA to convert or write-off other
debt (even in the absence of any contractual provision to that effect in the arrangement governing such debt) if and to the extent necessary to allow the bank to meet its regulatorycapital requirements after completion of the reorganization(“bail-in”).

Such bail-in is designed to be available as a measure of “last resort” to be taken in the event that the loss absorption under the capital instruments issued by the bank is not sufficient to restore the required capitalization of the failing bank and if the creditors are likely to be better off than in an immediate insolvency of the bank.The bail-in must be specified in the reorganization plan, which must be approved by FINMA and – except for banks of systemic importance – also by a majority of non-privileged creditors (calculated on the basis of the claim
amounts). If such approval cannot be obtained, the bank would be liquidated in bankruptcy proceedings. In the event that FINMA only applies protective measures, but does not consider any reorganization measures as necessary or adequate, a bail-in could not occur as one of such
protective measures.

Hmmm....Who needs banks with robbers like these guys?Read the full story here.

"Sanctions that Benefit" - Turkish Minister of Development Asks for Closer Trade Ties with Iran.

"Sanctions that Benefit" - Turkish Minister of Development Asks for Closer Trade Ties with Iran.(Fars).Turkey's Minister of Development Cevdet Yilmaz voiced Ankara's willingness to boost trade and economic relations with Tehran, and called for stronger efforts by both sides' officials to expand economic and trade ties between the two neighboring nations. The Turkish Minister of Development made the remarks in a meeting with Tehran's Ambassador to Ankara Alireza Bigdeli.

Yilmaz called on the two countries' officials to do their best to increase the trade exchanges between Iran and Turkey.

Meantime, he noted that the value of Iran-Turkey annual trade exchanges should be increased to $35 billion.

Bigdeli, for his part, underlined the need for expansion economic and trade ties between Iran and Turkey.

Iran and Turkey have recently expanded their bilateral relations, especially in trade and energy fields. Trade between Turkey and Iran has risen sharply over the past decade.

Iran-Turkey trade value exceeded $22bln in 2012.

Also, Turkey was Iran's fifth-largest oil customer in 2011, buying around 200,000 barrels per day, 30 percent of its total imports and more than 7 percent of Iran's oil exports.

The two countries officials stressed the necessity for stronger relations and pursuing the planned increase of mutual trade to $30bln by 2015. Hmmmm......US Congres?.....Sanctions?What sanctions?We're Obama's BFF.Read the full story here.

"The Great Bank Robbery" - Is a Cyprus Gold Confiscation the real Goal of Euro Group?

"The Great Bank Robbery" - Is a Cyprus Gold Confiscation the real Goal of Euro Group?HT: StratRisks. (RUVR).The European Union, the IMF and the ECB are pushing Cyprus into bankruptcy while risking a contagion effect that could lead to the meltdown of the eurozone. European leaders have already bailed out Greece, Portugal, Spain and Italy. Why is the Cyprus bailout so special? Why do the European leaders prefer to push the country into bankruptcy and raid the Cypriot bank accounts instead of saving it?

There are several possible reasons for such a behavior. Either the leaders of the Troika have made a mistake with terrible consequences or they have a plan which is not obvious to outside observers. If the bailout package, combined with a “solidarity levy” on the bank accounts is a bona fide mistake, why aren’t they willing to correct it? The European negotiators insist that Cyprus must provide 5.86 billion euros, knowing that the Cypriot government doesn’t have the money. So far, it looks like the Troika acts within a well established plan. What are they trying to achieve?

Let’s take a look at the gold market. It has been known for several years, that the central banks of the developed world are operating a huge price suppression scheme in the gold and silver markets. The mainstream media is ignoring this fact, but several whistleblowers, like the former Goldman Sachs trader Andrew Maguire, have come up with facts and figures, supporting the hypothesis of a wide conspiracy to suppress the prices of gold and silver. For several years, well known traders and investors like Eric Sprott and John Sinclair have been trying to draw the press’ attention to this problem. According to the latest calculations made by Eric Sprott, it is likely that the US Federal Reserve has almost no physical gold available, so its ability to continue suppressing the gold prices is diminished. If this is true, the Cyprus crisis is a boon to the market manipulators.

Russia 24, the Russian state news channel, reports that under the current plan that is being discussed by the Cypriot parliament, the Central Bank of Cyprus will sell its gold reserves in order to cover a part of the 5.86 billion euros demanded by the Euro group. Other sources of financing the country’s “contribution” include such outrageous measures as a special levy on bank accounts and the expropriation of the money held by the Cypriot pension system, so everyone’s attention is diverted from the sale of gold. The gold reserves of Cyprus stand at 13.9 tons. While not a big amount in itself, these reserves represent “physical gold” not “paper gold” which makes it very valuable from a market manipulation perspective.

If the central banks and financial institutions that are suppressing the gold prices are running short on “physical gold”, then each ounce of real assailed, not rehypothecated gold is priceless. Time has shown that the gold market manipulators are extremely powerful and will go to any lengths to keep the gold and silver prices down. If they have to force a country into bankruptcy in order to get 13.9 tons of physical gold and use it to suppress the prices, they’ll do it. If they have to create a distraction for the media, like a “special levy on bank accounts”, they’ll do it. If they are successful, it is very likely that Italian or Spanish gold reserves will be targeted next.Read the full story here.

Obama's BFF Turkey to Iran: "gold trade wiped out by new U.S. sanction."

Obama's BFF Turkey to Iran: "gold trade wiped out by new U.S. sanction."(RT).

Tighter U.S. sanctions are killing off Turkey's gold-for-gas trade with Iran and have stopped state-owned lender Halkbank from processing other nations' energy payments to the OPEC oil producer, bankers said on Friday, Reuters reported.

U.S. officials have sought to prevent Turkish gold exports, which indirectly pay Iran for its natural gas, from providing a financial lifeline to Tehran, largely frozen out of the global banking system by Western sanctions over its nuclear program.
Turkey, Iran's biggest natural gas customer, has been paying Iran for its imports with Turkish lira, because sanctions prevent it from paying in dollars or euros.
Iranians then use those lira, held in Halkbank accounts, to buy gold in Turkey, and couriers carry bullion worth millions of dollars in hand luggage to Dubai, where it can be sold for foreign currency or shipped to Iran.
Halkbank had also been processing a portion of India's payments for Iranian oil.
A provision of U.S. sanctions, made law last summer and implemented from February 6, effectively tightens control on sales of precious metals to Iran and prevents Halkbank from processing oil payments by other countries back to Tehran, bankers said.
"Halkbank can only accept payments for Turkish oil and gas purchases and Iran is only allowed to buy food, medicine and industrial products with that money," one senior Turkish banker told Reuters.
"The gas for gold trade is very difficult after the second round of sanctions. Iranians cannot just withdraw the cash and buy whatever they want. They have to prove what they are buying ... so gold exports will definitely fall," he said.
Trade in Turkish gold bars to Iran via Dubai was already drying up as banks and dealers declined to buy the bullion to avoid sanctions risks associated with the trade.
Reuters first reported the boom in Turkish gold sales to Iran via Dubai last year.
Turkish Economy Minister Zafer Caglayan signaled a decline in the trade last week when he said that, while Turkey would not be swayed by U.S. pressure to halt gold exports to Iran, Tehran's demand for the metal was expected to fall.
"You could say that the United States has achieved its aim," said a western diplomat. "If Turkey is going to continue energy imports from Iran, there is no other way to go than trading sanction-free goods."
Washington says Tehran is enriching uranium to levels that could be used in nuclear weapons and has been trying to ratchet up economic pressure on Tehran. Iran says the program is for peaceful purposes.
Turkish ministers had acknowledged the "gold-for-gas" trade but said it was carried out entirely by the private sector and was not subject to U.S. sanctions.
Turkey like China, India and Japan is heavily dependent on imported energy and, while it has cut back on oil from Iran, has made clear it cannot simply stop buying Iranian oil and gas.
"With so many restrictions, Iran's cash may accumulate in Halkbank accounts... they may have difficulty getting some of that money out of Turkey," another senior Turkish banker said.
That could mean Tehran will look elsewhere for allies willing to try to get round the U.S. sanctions, although it may struggle to continue to receive gold as a payment method.
"The gold trade may switch to countries that support Iran politically but Russian banks, for example, would be very cautious because they are very much in the global banking system," the second banker said.
"China may be another option. But I can say that the gold trade is over for Turkey."
Turkey, which is not a major gold producer, was a net gold, jewelry and precious metals importer in 2011 but swung to being a net exporter last year.
Gold exports to Iran rose to $6.5 billion in 2012, more than ten times the level of 2011, while exports to the United Arab Emirates - much of it for onward shipment to Iran or conversion to hard currency - rose to $4.6 billion from $280 million.
Overall Turkish bullion exports fell to 10.5 tonnes in December from 15.2 tonnes in November.Hmmmm.......Pakistan , Belarus?Read the full story here.

"Sanctions that Benefit" a thing of the past?Dubai gold dealers shun Turkish bars on fears of link to Iran.

"Sanctions that Benefit" a thing of the past?Dubai gold dealers shun Turkish bars on fears of link to Iran.(AA).Trade in Turkish gold bars to Iran via Dubai is drying up as a growing number of banks and dealers refuse to buy the bullion to avoid the risks associated with Turkey's gold-for-gas trade with Iran.
U.S. officials say they are concerned the trade between the two countries provides a financial lifeline to the Iran, which is largely frozen out of the global banking system by Western sanctions.
The U.S. State Department said in December that diplomats were in talks with Ankara over the flow of gold to Iran after the Senate approved expanded sanctions on trade with Iran's energy and shipping sectors, which would also restrict trade in precious metals.
That increasing U.S. pressure has already started to create troublesome repercussions for exporters of Turkish gold.
Many dealers in Dubai’s crowded and boisterous gold souk now refuse to take gold bars produced in Turkey. Some ask for a deep discount, saying their clients such as banks and other traders had suspended dealing with Turkish bullion over the past couple of months.
The media spotlight on the gold-for-gas exchange has already helped push Turkey's gold exports to the UAE to $621 million in November from nearly $2 billion in August, according to the latest official trade data.
Turkey, Iran’s biggest natural gas customer, has been paying the Islamic Republic for oil and gas imports with Turkish liras, because Western sanctions prevent it from paying in dollars or euros. Iranians then buy gold in Turkey, and couriers carry the gold worth millions of dollars in their hand luggage to Dubai, where it can be sold for foreign currency or shipped to Iran.
A Turkey-based industry source said the fact that Iranians are buying Turkish gold and shipping it via Dubai has worried international banks and traders and prompted them to suspend trading in Turkish gold bars.
“This is not something declared. It has been going on very quietly for the past month. Some international banks have taken the lead in this and they are simply staying away from any gold bullion that is coming out of Turkey,” he added.A London-based spokesman for Standard Bank, which is active in Dubai’s gold market, said it was not trading any Turkish-branded gold currently and had not regularly traded in Turkish bullion in the past.
He said, however, that the bank continued to trade gold bars registered by the London Bullion Market Association (LBMA), whose Good Delivery List sets the quality standard for physical gold refining.
Gold bars produced in Turkey’s two refineries - Nadir Metal and Istanbul Gold Refinery - are both registered in LBMA's Good Delivery list.
“In general we see a decline in the pace of demand from Dubai. After the latest U.S. sanctions, Turkish gold suppliers might have become more cautious too. The market is not as hectic as it was three months ago,” an Istanbul-based gold trader said.
“This is not a Dubai-particular issue. It has started here due to the flows of Turkish gold, but this has now become a global issue around Turkish gold,” said a source with knowledge of the discussions between DMCC and Turkish officials.
In Dubai, majority government-owned bank Emirates NBD , an active player in the local bullion market, said in a note to clients in November, “Emirates NBD will, as a pure measure of precaution, stop buying and selling all gold bars from Turkish refineries, even though they might be an accredited refinery by the London Good Delivery or by the Dubai Good Delivery List.”
A source in the Dubai office of major bullion dealer ScotiaMocatta, a division of Bank of Nova Scotia, said it was currently not dealing with Turkish gold bars.Read the full story here.

"Deutsche Gründlichkeit" - Germany to repatriate gold from US and France.

"Deutsche Gründlichkeit" -  Germany to repatriate gold from US and France.(RT).Germany’s central bank is set to reclaim some of its vast gold reserves held in the US and France, a German daily reported. The move follows an audit criticizing Bundesbank for mismanagement, stating the funds had never been “verified physically.”
Bundesbank voiced plans to withdraw its entire 450-ton store of gold bullion from the Bank of France in Paris, and a portion of the 1,500 tons currently held by the New York Federal Reserve, Handelsblatt reported.
The German government refrained from commenting on the reports ahead of its presentation of a new plan for the management of its gold reserves on Wednesday. Germany boasts the world’s second-largest bullion reserves at 270,000 gold bars ($177.5 billion), second only to the US.
Germany’s gold stockpile was relocated abroad during the Cold War amid fears of a possible Soviet invasion. There is no reason now to maintain overseas stockpiles, Bundesbank said – from now on, the bank will only keep small amounts of gold abroad for trading purposes.
About 30 percent of Germany’s gold reserves are currently being held in the country at the facilities of Frankfurt-based Bundesbank.
The move follows a damning report by the German Court of Auditors criticizing the management of Bundesbank’s foreign bullion stockpiles. Auditors said that the stores “had never been verified physically,” and were not under proper control.
Bundesbank was taken aback by the criticism, stressing there was no need for speculation on Germany’s overseas holdings and that "there is no doubt about the integrity of the foreign storage sites." The central bank is widely regarded as one of the most trustworthy institutions in German society.
Veteran gold dealer Jim Sinclair said that Bundesbank’s strategy marked a change in trends in the global gold market, heralding a move away from paper administration of funds.Read the full story here.

Related:  "German Efficiency" - Germany will physically inspect its gold reserves worldwide.

"Deutsche Gründlichkeit" - Why Germany Wants to See its US Gold.

Germans want to Check the 'fed reserve' Vaults about Their Foreign Gold Reserves.

Will the 'Gold Standard' make a comeback to the U.S. in 2013?

Will the 'Gold Standard' make a comeback to the U.S. in 2013?

Will the 'Gold Standard' make a comeback to the U.S. in 2013?(Yahoo).By Oliver Hirt and Caroline Copley.

Divisible gold 'Combibar' can easily be broken into one gram pieces and used as payment in emergency

Private investors in Switzerland, Austria and Germany are lining up to buy gold bars the size of a credit card that can easily be broken into one gram pieces and used as payment in an emergency.
Now Swiss refinery Valcambi, a unit of U.S. mining giant Newmont, wants to bring its "CombiBar" to market in the United States and build up its sales presence.
India - the world's largest consumer of gold where the precious metal has long served as a parallel currency. Investors worried that inflation and financial market turmoil will wipe out the value of their cash have poured money into gold over the past decade.
Prices have gained almost 500 percent since 2001 compared to a 12 percent increase in MSCI's world equity index. Investors worried that inflation and financial market turmoil will wipe out the value of their cash have poured money into gold over the past decade.
Sales of gold bars and coins were worth almost $77 billion in 2011, up from just $3.5 billion in 2002, according to data from the World Gold Council.
"The rich are buying standard bars or have deposits of phsyical gold. People that have less money are buying up to 100 grams," said Michael Mesaric, CEO of Valcambi "But for many people a pure investment product is no longer enough. They want to be able to do something with the precious metal."

Mesaric said the advantage of the "CombiBar" - which has been dubbed a "chocolate bar" because pieces can be easily broken off by hand into one gram squares - is that it can be easily transported and costs less than buying 50 one gram bars.
"The produce can also be used as an alternative method of payment," he said.
Valcambi is building a sales network in India and plans to launch the CombiBar on the U.S. market next year. In Japan, it wants to focus on CombiBars made of platinum and palladium.Since the launch of the machines, which operate under the name "GOLD to go", 50,000 customers have withdrawn more than 21 million euros in gold. The average buyer is male, over 50 years old and well off.Read the full story here.

Related:  Virginia introducing Bill to return to Gold and Silver standard in case of Federal Reserve System breakdown.
The US Treasury, Federal Reserve and the FDIC Mulling New Gold Regulation; ‘May be biggest event in gold market since US dropped gold standard’

U.S. Secret Service Bans Certain Gold and Silver Coins On eBay.

U.S. Secret Service Bans Certain Gold and Silver Coins On eBay.(Forbes).eBay was contacted by the U.S. Secret Service sometime last month to remove the Liberty Dollar precious metal coins. Citing consistency with eBay’s general policy of not listing counterfeit items, eBay spokesperson Ryan Moore confirmed the ban with Coin World. The following email was sent to affected sellers when the systematic removals began:

The United States Secret Service has requested the removal of all Norfed Liberty dollars on the eBay site as counterfeits. … Please do not relist this item(s). We appreciate that you chose to list this coin on our site and understand there was no ill intent on your part. Your listing fees have been credited to your account.

Real is fake and fake is real. That’s pretty much the monetary world that we live in now as we are coerced to trade and pay taxes in the designated and one ‘legitimate’ State currency. Certainly, the U.S. Secret Service wouldn’t want anyone purchasing pure (.999 fine) gold and silver medallions mistakenly thinking that they might be getting official and real money issued under the authority of the United States.
Deriving its authority from Title 18 of the United States Code, Section 3056, the United States Secret Service is one of the nation’s oldest federal investigative law enforcement agencies and it was originally founded in 1865 as a branch of the U.S. Treasury Department to combat the counterfeiting of U.S. currency. In addition to its mandate of protecting the president, vice president, and others, the U.S. Secret Service is responsible for maintaining the integrity of the nation’s financial infrastructure and payment systems:

The Secret Service has jurisdiction over violations involving the counterfeiting of United States obligations and securities. Some of the counterfeited United States obligations and securities commonly investigated by the Secret Service include U.S. currency (to include coins), U.S. Treasury checks, Department of Agriculture food coupons and U.S. postage stamps.

Rather than the beginning of a second wave of gold confiscation, this action to remove coins at eBay and other sites is aimed directly at NORFED Liberty Dollars issued from the now defunct mint of monetary architect Bernard von Nothaus who was convicting of counterfeiting in 2011. For those that haven’t followed every twist and turn of this landmark case, I would recommend the amicus curiae brief filed by GATA, the brilliant piece from Lew Rockwell, and the possible implications of the von Nothaus case on other attempts to start a new currency.Read the full story here.

"Deutsche Gründlichkeit" - Why Germany Wants to See its US Gold.

"Deutsche Gründlichkeit" - Why Germany Wants to See its US Gold.(Spiegel).By By Sven Böll and Anne Seith.Bundesbank President Jens Weidmann wanted to personally convince Peter Gauweiler that the German gold was still where it should be. Early this summer, the head of Germany's central bank took the obstinate politician from the conservative Christian Social Union (CSU), a party that is a member of the government coalition in Berlin, and a number of his colleagues into the Bundesbank's inner sanctum: the gold vault.
There, 6,000 gold bars are stacked on industrial-strength shelves in a purpose-built building in Frankfurt. An additional 76,000 bars of bullion are stored in four safe boxes, in sealed containers.

But even this personal inspection wasn't enough to reassure the visiting member of parliament -- on the contrary: "The Bundesbank monitors its domestic gold in an exemplary fashion," Gauweiler says, "and this makes it all the more incomprehensible that the bank doesn't look after its reserves abroad."
For quite some time now, Gauweiler has been pestering the government and the Bundesbank with questions concerning where and how the country's reserves are stored, and how often they are checked. He has submitted requests and commissioned reports on the topic.
Last week, Gauweiler celebrated his greatest triumph to date in his gold campaign, which has been a source of some amusement for many fellow German politicians: A secret report by the Federal Audit Office had been made public -- and it contained stern criticism of the German central bank in Frankfurt. The Bonn-based auditors urged a better inventory system, including quality checks.
This demand, which even the bank's inspectors saw as nothing more than routine, alarmed the Berlin political establishment. Indeed, the partially blacked-out report read like the prologue to an espionage thriller in which the stunned central bankers could end up standing in front of empty vaults in the US.

For decades, German central bankers have contented themselves with written affirmations from their American colleagues that the gold still remains where it is said to be stored. According to the report, the bar list from New York stems from "1979/1980."
The report also noted that the Federal Reserve Bank of New York refuses to allow the gold's owners to view their own reserves.
Not surprisingly, this prompted strong reactions in Berlin:
The relevant Bundesbank board member Carl-Ludwig Thiele was summoned to Berlin to provide an explanation to the parliamentary budget committee. Heinz-Peter Haustein of the business-friendly Free Democratic Party (FDP) was even quoted by Germany's mass-circulation Bild newspaper as saying that "all the gold has to be shipped back."

There is in fact nothing unusual about how Germany deals with the precious metal. Many other central banks store a portion of their gold reserves abroad. The Netherlands, for example, places its trust in its colleagues in Ottawa, New York and London.
But the relationship Germans have with their gold is a special one. Germany hoards nearly 3,600 metric tons of the precious metal -- only the US has more. 
Much of this gold treasure was amassed under the Bretton Woods international monetary system, in which the dollar served as the world's key currency and was directly convertible to fixed quantities of gold.
Before the gold standard was terminated in 1971, the current account surpluses generated by Germany's "economic miracle" were partially balanced out in gold. Thousands of US bars of gold alone were transferred to German ownership.
But since the euro is not backed by gold, such vast reserves are actually no longer necessary. Nevertheless, the Germans continue to resolutely defend them -- and every attempt to use this treasure has been met with dismay.

Finally, in 2007, "following numerous enquiries," Bundesbank staff members were allowed to see the facility, but they reportedly only made it to the anteroom of the German reserves.
In fact, auditors from the Bundesbank made a second visit in May 2011. This time one of the nine compartments was also opened, in which the German gold bars are densely stacked. A few were pulled out and weighed. But this part of the report has been blacked out -- out of consideration for the Federal Reserve Bank of New York.
"I would like more transparency on the issue," says Bundesbank board member Thiele. The Americans are very sensitive, though, when it comes to security procedures in their gold storage facilities. In their second major depository, the legendary Fort Knox, practically no one in recent decades has been allowed to view the gold reserves.Read the full story here.

"German Efficiency" - Germany will physically inspect its gold reserves worldwide.

"German Efficiency" - Germany will physically inspect its gold reserves worldwide.(Cnbc).A German federal court has said that country’s central bank should conduct annual audits and physically inspect its gold reserves worldwide, including gold in the custody of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. In addition to the FRBNY, Bundesbank gold is stored in London, Paris and Frankfurt. For decades, the Bundesbank has relied on written confirmation of its gold holdings in London, Paris and New York. According to the report from the German audit court, the last time Bundesbank officials physically inspected the central banks gold holdings was, well, never. (It should be stated that the folks at FT Alphaville quote a report saying an inspection took place in 1979/1980.) Interestingly enough, the Bundesbank is apparently quite happy with taking the word of other central bankers about the existence, location and size of its gold reserves. It put out the word that it disagrees with the Audit Court, which only has advisory power and cannot force the Bundesbank to follow its recommendations, about the need for inspections. Nonetheless, the Bundesbank is actually going to follow the recommendation that it verify the gold stocks. It also has plans to ship some 150 tons of gold back to Germany for a more “thorough examination.”Hmmmmmm........Read the full story here.

Hurry , hurry - Get Your Fake Tungsten-Filled Gold Coins Here.

1oz South African Krugerrand Obverse.

tungsten-alloy gold coin China

Hurry , hurry - Get Your Fake Tungsten-Filled Gold Coins  Here.(ZH).By Tyler Durden.In the aftermath of the recent stories about Tungsten-filled 10 ounce gold bars discovered in midtown Manhattan, there have been two broad sentiments expressed by the precious metals community: i) that this is as many have expected, and that of the physical inventory in circulation, much is fake (particularly that held in official hands, either via ETFs or in sovereign repositories which for various reasons still can not be publicly assayed) and ii) is the comfort that while it is relatively easy and cost-effective to use tungsten to falsify larger gold bars and bricks, those who own primarily gold coins are safe as for some reason, it is less economic, feasible or widespread to counterfeit smaller precious metal denominations. Sadly, while i) may be true, ii) is patently false. The proof comes courtesy of a firm called ChinaTungsten Online which proudly markets its broad "tungsten-alloy services" including, you guessed it, the gold plating of various tungsten formulations among them "gold" bricks, bars and, yes, coins. Oh did we mention a Chinese company openly advertizes its tungsten gold-plating and precious metals replication services, something which the tabloid media's CTRL-C/V majors openly mock as improbable conspiracy theory. Well, as they say, it is only conspiracy theory until it becomes conspiracy fact.
From the website's Tungsten Heavy Alloy Scan Gold Coin section:

Tungsten is the only lower value metal that has a specific density close enough to gold to fabricate passable counterfeit pieces of the same size and weight as genuine Pictures of tungsten fake gold coins and ingots. Over the years, there have been a few isolated reports of smaller tungsten fake gold coin found to have been drilled to remove some of the gold which was replaced with tungsten. However, tungsten fake gold coin is far more profitable to fabricate larger original bars of tungsten that are then scanning gold.

Because the existence of counterfeit tungsten fake gold coin could have such a huge impact on the financial markets, there is a huge potential for deception and misinformation to be passed around. Be very careful about automatically believing any story you may hear. For your own protection, tungsten fake gold coin would be better to take physical possession of the smaller sizes of tungsten fake gold coins and now, and know that what you own genuine solid tungsten fake gold coin. [ZH: reread that sentence: "genuine solid tungsten fake gold coin"]


Notice: Chinatungsten Online (Xiamen) Manu.& Sales Corp. is a very professional and serious company, specializing in manufacturing and selling tungsten fake gold coin and other tungsten related products for more than two decades. We are a professional tungsten fake gold coin manufacturer. Our tungsten gold fake coin is only for souvenir and decoration purpose. Here we declare: Please do not use our tungsten fake gold coin and other fake gold coin products for any illegal purpose. We can provide all kinds of tungsten fake gold coin as your requirements.Our tungsten fake gold coin products are qualified.Read the full story here.

"Gold Confiscation Coming?" - The Terrifying Line in Obama's Speech That Everyone Missed.

"Gold Confiscation Coming?" - The Terrifying Line in Obama's Speech That Everyone Missed.(NI). Obama said he'd create a million new manufacturing jobs, recruit another 100,000 math and science teachers, cut tuition growth in half, and reform the tax code. All by magic, apparently, since he's provided no detailed plans on any of this. But while everyone was picking apart these and other flaws in Obama's speech, they overlooked the most frightening line of all. That was when Obama promised that he'd pursue "the kind of bold, persistent experimentation that Franklin Roosevelt pursued during the only crisis worse than this one." That promise might have made liberal hearts swoon.
But as Amity Shlaes explained in her outstanding history of the era — "The Forgotten Man" — it was precisely FDR's "bold, persistent experimentation" that was largely to blame for the length, depth and severity of the Great Depression.
Convinced that the government had to do something, FDR tinkered and experimented, she said, figuring that if he didn't "get it right the first time ... maybe he'd get it right the second time." But the very arbitrariness of FDR's actions, she found, made it impossible for businesses to make plans. And so, as FDR's bold experiments increased, business activity decreased and markets froze. "From the point of view of a business," Shlaes said in a 2009 interview, "it is annihilating to hear Washington uncertain, and that itself retards recovery because you really don't know what to expect." If Obama wants to conduct experiments, he should get a job as a high school science teacher, and not use the entire nation as guinea pigs, particularly when we already know how his tests will turn out.Hmmmm.........Executive Order 6102 is an Executive Order signed on April 5, 1933, by U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt "forbidding the Hoarding of Gold Coin, Gold Bullion, and Gold Certificates within the continental United States". The order criminalized the possession of monetary gold by any individual, partnership, association or corporation.Read the full story here.

The US Treasury, Federal Reserve and the FDIC Mulling New Gold Regulation; ‘May be biggest event in gold market since US dropped gold standard’

The US Treasury, Federal Reserve and the FDIC Mulling New Gold Regulation; ‘May be biggest event in gold market since US dropped gold standard’.(SR).See also: Bank of International Settlements: Gold Becomes a Tier 1 Asset Class for Banks, A Stabilizing Mechanism‎
Is gold safe or dangerous now?
US authorities have recently called for comment on a rule change that may impact the gold market.
The US Treasury, Federal Reserve and the FDIC have jointly sought comment on changing some capital adequacy rules for when an institution holds gold in its own vaults or in another’s vaults.
According to the draft documents released, when gold is currently held as an asset, it is risk weighted at 15% – that is, a 15% haircut is taken on its current value for capital adequacy calculations. (See page 86 of the attached Federal Reserve document.)
However, in this same document, they are proposing that there be no (zero) discount.
That would then put gold on the same basis as cash.Fans of gold are taking an interest in this potential development. As Greene notes: “It may be one of the most important events in the gold market since the US abandoned the gold standard.”Read the full story here.

Related? Societe Generale: Gold Could Surge Over 500%


Related - Buyer beware ! MFS - The Other News : 

This bar was purchased by staff of a scrap dealer in xxxxx, UK yesterday. The bar appeared to be perfect other than the fact that it was 2gms underweight. It was checked by hand-held xrf and showed 99.98% Au. Being Tungsten, it would not be ferro-magnetic. The bar was supplied with the original certificate. The owner of the business that purchased the bar only became suspicious when he realized the weight discrepancy and had the bar cropped. He estimates between 30-40% of the weight of the bar to be Tungsten.

The amount of “salted tungsten” gold bars in question was allegedly between 5,600 and 5,700 – 400 oz – good delivery bars [roughly 60 metric tonnes].
This was apparently all highly orchestrated by an extremely well financed criminal operation.

Within mere hours of this scam being identified – Chinese officials had many of the perpetrators in custody.
And here’s what the Chinese allegedly uncovered:
Roughly 15 years ago – during the Clinton Administration [think Robert Rubin, Sir Alan Greenspan and Lawrence Summers] – between 1.3 and 1.5 million 400 oz tungsten blanks were allegedly manufactured by a very high-end, sophisticated refiner in the USA [more than 16 Thousand metric tonnes]. Subsequently, 640,000 of these tungsten blanks received their gold plating and WERE shipped to Ft. Knox and remain there to this day. I know folks who have copies of the original shipping docs with dates and exact weights of “tungsten” bars shipped to Ft. Knox.Read the full story here.

Germans want to Check the 'fed reserve' Vaults about Their Foreign Gold Reserves.

Germans want to Check the 'fed reserve' Vaults about Their Foreign Gold Reserves.(Spiegel).A large portion of Germany's massive gold reserves are stored abroad, mainly in the Federal Reserve in New York. But are the bars really where they are supposed to be? A dispute has broken out over whether the central bank needs to check on its gold, or if Germany can trust its international partners.Germany has gold reserves of just under 3,400 tons, the second-largest reserves in the world after the United States. Much of that is in the safekeeping of central banks outside Germany, especially in the US Federal Reserve in New York. One would think that with such a valuable stash, worth around €133 billion ($170 billion), the German government would want to keep a close eye on its whereabouts. But now a bizarre dispute has broken out between different German institutions over how closely the reserves should be checked. Germany's federal audit office, the Bundesrechnungshof, which monitors the German government's financial management, is unhappy with how Germany's central bank, the Bundesbank, keeps tabs on its gold.
According to media reports, the auditors are dissatisfied with the fact that gold reserves in Frankfurt are more closely monitored than those held abroad. In Germany, spot checks are carried out to make sure that the gold bars are in the right place. But for the German gold that is stored on the Bundesbank's behalf by the US Federal Reserve in New York, the Bank of England in London and the Banque de France in France, the German central bank relies on the assurances of its foreign counterparts that the gold is where it should be.
The three foreign central banks give the Bundesbank annual statements confirming the size of the reserves, but the Germans do not usually carry out physical inspections of the bars. According to German media reports, the Bundesrechnungshof has now recommended in its confidential annual audit of the Bundesbank for 2011 that Germany's central bank check its foreign gold reserves with yearly spot checks. The Bundesbank has rejected the demand, arguing that central banks do not usually check each others' reserves. "The scope of the checks that the Bundesrechnungshof wants does not correspond to the usual practices among central banks," the Bundesbank said in a statement quoted by the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung newspaper.
"There are no doubts about the integrity and the reputation of these foreign depositories."In times of uncertainty about the future of Europe's common currency, gold is a hot topic, and some Germans take a dim view of the fact that much of the country's gold -- which theoretically belongs to the people -- is held abroad. Some members of parliament have even expressed doubts as to whether the foreign gold reserves really exist. Philipp Missfelder, a member of the conservative Christian Democratic Union (CDU), wanted to see the gold for himself and traveled to New York in person to inspect the holdings, according to the newspaper Frankfurter Rundschau. His trip was apparently unsuccessful, though. When he visited the Fed's safes in New York, staff were either unable or unwilling to show him exactly which bars belonged to Germany.Some Germans even want to bring the gold reserves back to Germany. An initiative called "Gold Action" is campaigning under the slogan: "Repatriate Our Gold!"Read the full 'burried treasure' story here.