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German Court Demands Bundesbank Audit Sovereign Gold Holdings
The German court of auditors (Bundesrechnungshof) has demanded that the Bundesbank undertake an audit of its gold reserves. In an 'audit-the-fed' style effort, the court wants to ensure that the nearly 3400 tons of gold is in fact in existence - 'because stocks have never been checked for authenticity and weight'. Furthermore, the Bundesbank's gold is stored in three other vaults around the world: The Bank of England, The Bank of France, and the US Federal Reserve. The court questions the practice of relying on a written confirmation from the custodians (foreign central banks). The decision means negotiating with the three foreign central banks for physical verification but in anticipation, the Bundesbank has begun the process of shipping 50 tons per year from the Fed back to Germany for the next three years.
Germany's apparent (unchecked and unverified) gold holdings are second only to the USA's (just as unaudited levels)...
Via Spiegel:
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."
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imo... In a fiat world, the amount of gold a country HAS means nothing. It's the people who make a country strong (economically) down to the little guys ability to build or OWN. The GOLD was there to keep a Government in "check" per se. We are long past that and this "GOLD" will always find it's way some where else. Maybe someone else can add to this...
You didn't smelt that.
He who denied it supplied it.
Yes, I'm paying you 2 chicken feathers for your well-thought comment.
Do you have change for a rooster wattle?
rooster wattle! wtf is that! hahaha too funny, I had to google it. Awesome word!
Cheers!
Fred
with debasement of the US dollar over the last 100 years, the gold and silver has already left the country
Jpm needs 50 tons stat!
Chavez got gold and the Germans tungsten or euro's... They should have audited their bars in the past. I thought they were always 'gründlich', aren't they ?
no, they always assume everyone plays by the rules. It's only in the last couple years of the CDO / CDS meltdown on MBSs that they began to learn that Americans might <gasp!> actually cheat them. Read the Big Short.
Indeed and we should have known better. But the Zionists killed off all our established conspiracy minds during the last great war and went through "re-education". Of course America is just a Babylonian Whore and hasn't ever evolved past the Wild West. People are stupid praying sheep that can be manipulated any which way. Then they pray and say "thank you Lord" for the abuse and the manipulation. Dumb American sheep. In the meantime, the Zionists have taken over all 3 pillars of the American Republic via corporations and Wall Street. Sheep get told to buy stocks with money they don't have and the Zionists are having a bounty like never before. If something starts to smell or someone is asking too many questions, a false flag (like 9/11) will put the sheep back into their place and pray, pray, pray for the country to do the right thing. Which is of course going to war against some tribes in the Hindukush and a 2nd class tin pot dictator who happens to sit on massive oil reserves.
All this is so fucking obvious.
Bullish, right? Who the F$@K really knows anymore?
It's Jerry Maguire time.
That's finally one important issue over the long period of nonsense babbling and smoke signaling. But if the process of shipping 50 tons per year is really to take place it will take decades to relocate as one can hardly believe that only 150 tons of Gemany's gold is being held by the Fed. But one thing is guaranteed - if even all gold bars in the Fed vaults are made of tungsten the Fed can still afford to order a brand new delivery of 50 tons fine gold per year without disclosing a possible tungsten nature of the current 'gold' reserves. Seems to me like a chance given to the Fed by Germans (or vice versa) to sort out things quietly in a mutually satisfactory way.
Oh SHIT.
This is great, and so it begins. Cannot imagine anyone on this site has their gold/silver stored with any banks safe deposit vault, anywhere.
Because it is not "safe".
The 50 tons will now become like the Xmas fruitbread that keeps being passed around from CB to CB every year so that they can "verify" their holdings.
I guess the German Courts will just be the latest group of people who will be told to GO FUCK THEMSELVES by the Central Banks.
Haw Haw ! Now sell that news.
Yer gold, sell yer gold!
They facking better drill a few bars
Das ende.
Der Untergang?
This is going to be the thread that keeps giving.
Das Erwachen! Die Neo-Renaissance!
That's a buy tungsten then....
corzined!
Dear Bundesbank:
Further to your request for delivery of your gold bars, to save shipping costs we hereby enclose certificates representing the equivalent amount of GLD We trust that this is satisfactory.
Yours truly, Ben.
If you never perform an audit, you'll never know what you really have. Primary principle of accounting. Way to go, Germans. Why would you store it outside of your own country? Bringing your gold holdings back home is a smart move.
What? They want physical posession?
They want to verify it is there?
What is the world coming to?
(/sarc)
Methinks the amount of gold that China holds is severly under reported.
Methinks the amount of gold that China holds is severly under reported.
3400 tons X 60% under reported at a guess.
Tons are so passé dont ya know. China is resmelting to kilo bars and will prob release in kilos next time they annouce official holdings? I would.
P.S I just got the order forms from that chinese gold/tungsten plater that was mentioned on ZH a while back. Anyone successfully ordered from them yet?!
3400 tons of gold equal about 109 million ounces. With about 80 million inhabitants in Germany that would amount to about 1.3 ounces for each.
The best way for Germany to store its gold would be selling it to their citizens at an attractive price.
.. if they could repatriate it, which will not come to pass ..
What great irony. The Germans lead us to a more honest monetary system. The almighty has a fine sense of humor.
Well, I was under the impresion that Austrian economics came from that region. Maybe I'm wrong.
Of course, you correct.
I find the irony in the fact that 70 years ago we had to straighten out Germany's thought patterns regarding empire and now they are going to straighten out ours.
Ding, dong, the wicked witch is dead.
Audit the gold?????????
“And the suggestion that anybody in my team, whether the Treasury Secretary, the chairman of the Federal Reserve, either of my handlers Axelrod or the ballet dancer, my gold digging wife, or anyone else for that matter, is offensive... You German Busy Body's!"
"Michelle, get the girls, Greenspan, and Bernanke, and let's get the f out of here before the dumb fucks realize it is gone. We'll just blame it on that moron Bush."
Have Geraldo do the audit, he has experience with vaults...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P84OKTUx6LY
Do you suppose that the Germans have realized that their gold in the U.S. stands surety for every Euro-demoninated asset in American hands and will be seized the day Germany withdraws from the Eurozone?
Seized how? Invasion?
Possibly. Bottom line:
THE TRUST IS GONE
do any of us think for a minute an honest audit will happen? no I thougth not. last rumor is BLS will do the counting with appropiate seasonal adjustments.
German judges sure are gullible..order it all pulled back to Germany, now that might give us a real idea whats stored in the worlds banks..but it will never get to that point before the German gov is removed. again.
court ordered is court ordered. Doesn't matter who .gov is.
The court ordered an audit - not the return to German soil. Maybe they may have to resurrect Arthur Andersen from the tomb to do the audit.
Gotta start somewhere. Next up will be the efficiency of keeping the gold stored outside of Germany in 2012.
Uparrowing like a mofo on this.
Germans are starting to go all terr'ist, and we might need to re-establish a better 'endurin' freedom' over there. YeeeeHawwww.
If they really want some gold, they can always buy some contracts and we'll deliver the coupons.
That's how freedum works..
Seems more Germans listened to Ron Paul than Americans did...
Audi de Fed
If the gold proves not to be there, is that positive or negative for the price of gold? Positive: the custodian would have to buy some to make up the shortfall. Negative: everyone would lose confidence in paper gold and even gold in custodianship as a store of value, so the price of gold traded at the commodity exchanges would probably fall.
I also wonder what is to stop the custodians in New York, London, and Paris from showing the German visitors into the vault, pointing to a pile of somebody else's gold and saying "See, that's your gold right there".
In my line of work - import/export - this kind of thing happens quite a bit, there are huge warehouses (called "freight forwarders") full of pallets and containers of goods belonging to many different businesses. Sometimes, if accurate records are not kept, or labels are damaged by water or taken off by Customs for inspection and not put back properly, or whatever, they lose track of which goods belong to who - or there can be fraud or pilfering. Occasionally you end up with the warehouse being closed auditors come in and nobody knows what belongs to anyone. (Especially if a malicious employee damaged the computer records as a final act before quitting...)
While such a finding would, of course, cause something of a panic, and many people would be caught with their proverbial pants down, it would unquestionably be a longer term positive for gold.
There are large amounts of well-audited, allocated metals held in major vaults (e.g. Viamat) around the world, and those who (truly) own gold would see their holdings increase significantly in value.
You are describing our 'disconnect', the idea that premiums will go to the moon on physical while the coupons get cheaper and cheaper. As well they should, since they are more-or-less non-redeemable.
I used to hear about the coming 'disconnect' all the time, now everyone is cowed in fear of the paper prices crashing, which would be fine with me, as long as those premies are working. People are getting screwed, and though painful, it's time for Boobus Americanus to wake up.
These national audits should be conducted at the same time. I fear we have a shell game going.
Who's to say this isn't just some coordinated smoke & mirrors between NY, London, and Germany to recapture the trust of the public? It's not like the Germans could do anything about it if the gold isn't there. No good would come from that.
The Germans are very good at issuing sternly worded statements.
Almost as good as the UN.
It's in our safe, trust me!
The beginning of the end of the USD as reserve currency imo.
Russia's Putin has built the largest oil & gas conglomerate. China has diversified out of the USD. BRICs are going anti-USD.
What are the Frenchies up to? Building and shipping another Statue of Liberteeeeee?
France is right now in Swiss receivership. Maybe it has always been.
Better in Swiss receivership than in Goldman's dominated central banking, fractional reserve lending, global squid receivership.
O/T the Hedge Fund roach motel is "full monty", Nasdapple I see. AAPL up $14, and NQ100 up 6. I'm sure this will end well for APPL /not http://statesmansentinel.com/2012/10/22/apple-inc-nasdaqaapl-display-dea...
LULZ! The Hedge Fund roach motel is "full monty" three-card monte!
In the past there may have been a reason for Germany's gold to be in foreign vaults but what is the justification now unless it is being "lent" out?
can somebody write this piece again in something resembling ENGLISH?...or have mutant algos invaded ZH?
The Offical Chart is a pack of LIES.
So the reported amount the US holds is worth about $340B. Anybody see a problem with that?
isn't that cute?
the difference with germans, however, is that they actually walk the walk.
United Kingdom LOL
what do they think is in the vault, gold plated turds?
Gold imported into the UAE by traders and investors turned out to be fake on closer inspectionhttp://www.emirates247.com/markets/gold/tons-of-gold-imports-turn-to-dus...
;)
Perhaps the nanothermite got to the gold under the WTCs afterall?
that story is over two years old.
Go long Cupriavidus metallidurans (the bacterial that supposedly poops gold).
Hello, any logistic specialist for UPS, FEdex, etc., out there....
Can you move, say, 8000 tons in a week?
Any specialist who says negative is hereby summary fired.
So, why 50 tons PER YEAR?
If you never perform an audit, you'll never know what you really have. Primary principle of accounting. Way to go, Germans. Why would you store it outside of your own country? Bringing your gold holdings back home is a smart move.
Do have your papers?... do you have any strange tattoos, or gold fillings?
Is it GLD or physical gold? So what should long term investors invest in?
The serious very long-term investor should consider buying gold bullion and having it stored in a certified vault. Storage costs don't usually exceed 0.2% annual, plus the added advantage of holding fully allocated, unambiguous gold not entangled (or at least not "so" entangled) in the financial system.
Shorter time frame investors, however, may fare well with GLD or the equivalents.
Here are more details as to the difference between both forms of gold investing and the time frame, advantages and risk of each form:
http://bit.ly/R7pAjs
I use http://www.bullionvault.com/#freesilveroz to buy sell and store my online gold and silver. Not found a better service so far. I added my referrer bit so you can buy me a beer for sending you there. As long as tinternet works, so will BV. Do your own DD!
Cheers!
Fred
@spotgoldprice
FYI - I clicked thi link I posted for BV and then clicked "withdraw bars" which I hadnt seen before. Nice. Coinage now availabe too!
"Withdrawing Gold
BullionVault users own professional-market gold and silver, held in secure vaults in big bar form, through an internet account. You can sell on-line and be paid direct to your bank account, which is efficient and low risk and helps you own gold at very low cost.
But of course investors always need emergency access to the physical gold, even though there are some extra costs.
The standard cost is 2.5% for withdrawing whole gold bars, and there is a further 5% surcharge for withdrawals below 400 oz - which you will receive as bars or coins. The fee for silver (whole bars only) is 10%.
BullionVault gold and silver are both VAT (sales tax) free - for as long as they are held in accredited vaults. Upon withdrawal gold remains exempt, but 20% VAT then applies on silver."
#goldweluvit
The more smoke, the more people will notice. The fire will start someday.
A real audit is the auditors showing up unannounced in the morning when the doors open!
Why the hell don't the krauts just demand all their gold back? Would YOU store your gold in a country that has $200 Trillion in debt, a muslim clown in office and a mad hatter as the fed chairistan debasing the currency as fast as he can?? Plus a diseased ferret faggot as treasury sec, and a mulatto liar and thief as the AG? Gott in Himmel!!
Well, at least you appear to be an equal opportunity racist moron.
From a July 2012 article at "Resource Investor http://www.resourceinvestor.com/2012/07/03/where-was-germanys-bullion
t is the same vault Schacht visited during one of his trips to New York to meet with Benjamin Strong. Here is how Schacht relates this remarkable event.
Amazing how fascinated with "tradition" everybody's getting. Who knows, maybe we'll be coining tradition one day.
Why does Germany have to ask for permission to have access to its gold?
Same reason reverse racism exists in the US.
Just tell the Krauts the next Eurozone bailout will be on Bennie, and call it even.
wow nice to see someone has the balls to audit
Human societies depend on a medium of exchange - no gold, no trust, no exchange... no recognizable society because it's all up in the air at that point...
The Germans should just take the Gold of all FPIIGS too!
"Why would you store it outside of your own country?"
To answer this question, one should ask another question - who owns the Federal Reserve?
May be time to short tungsten. Unexpected inventories to be announced soon :-)
How do you say, "big fucking surprise!" in German?
große ficken Überraschung!
Der fooken der surprisen schtein!
I'd love too see their faces when they get the gold back from the Fed:
Ach mein himmel! Vee been der schnooken by der Tungschten (tungsten bars)!
This needs an Irish Poem:
Das Rhine Gold
Der Germans, sie haben some ore.
But vundered "Who minded Der Store???"
Sooo, they eins, zwei'd, drei'd, viered. . .
It was just as they feared!
Ach! Sie haben Die Tungsten galore!
Squeeky Fromm, Girl Reporter
Way passed due but smart move nonetheless. Don't trust the Fed!
I salute the Germans on this move. Don't let the NYC Jew banksters own you. I am surprised it took this long for Germany to relearn this lesson.
Next step, exit the Euro.
This is a proper German response to Bernanke continually debasing the dollar and for that matter the ECB. Maybe this is what stops Bernanke in his tracks on QE if indeed the vaults don't add up. What other choice is there short of war?
A ton of gold is only a 15 in cube on each side..
50 a year? Plenty of time to come up with more excuses than actual metal
German gold will be easy to identify.
They'll be the bars with bits of teeth sticking out of them.
They trust the Fed to hold their gold? Ha. Morons.
The 50 tons a year is suspect....they are giving cover to the banks to go to the market and buy it as they all know the gold is not there....so they are saying..I want 50 tons a year...you have to get it and get it to us.....we will not crash the system all at once.....
It boggles my mind that anyone would trust the Fed to safeguard their wealth. Look at what a wonderful job the Fed has done at safeguarding the wealth of American citizens.
Right now you can buy gold certificates on ebay issued by the US government that say right on them that they can be redeemed for gold coin on demand. But can you redeem them? Of course not!
As soon as the Germans start trying to reclaim their gold from the Fed, the US will suddenly announce: "Sorry, we don't do that any more.". Just like Nixon did in 1971. Because the Fed's dirty little secret is that the gold is long gone.
Never try to look behind the curtain. Because you won't like what you see.
They switched headlines pretty quick. Get the sheep back on track to "care" about US elections. 3rd and "most important" debate of all times is tonight. Who cares? Foreign "policy" of all things that are only affordable with other people's money and only as long as the rest of the world is forced to accept the USD as reserve currency.
It's not your gold if you have to ask permission to drop by and audit your property. It's not your gold if it's stored in the nations who defeated you in World War 2. It's not even your gold if you send some bean counters over to look upon gold bars that 10 other nations claim ownership on. and it's not your gold if you are only getting a fraction of it delivered over long periods of time because you know it. I know it. They know it. You ain't getting "your"gold back. You are just being stalled for as long as they can. Now play along nicely or we'll tell you a story about a guy named Mommar Gaddafi who who also felt that his gold belonged to him.
And a wearhouse is empty until proven full.
Forget about the stolen gold itself for a minute... what about decades interest (@ 4%) that was never paid by the deadbeat FED and deadbeat BIS on the gold deposits?
The world (the world outside of the G5 nations) wants it's decades of stolen gold back from the FED and BIS. There are multi-trillion dollar liens to this effect... http://sirratatap.com/?s=liens
An audit of Ft Knox will turn up nerve gas=s, no Gold! Just need to put Robert Rubin under oatrh and we will see how he and Bill Clinton leased ours out for paper certificates.
Never going to happen, people will die first
I believe there will be a discovery of large fraud in the next few years. When has there not been debasement when the stakes are this big? I'm curious what people think would happen to the price of gold
- it is money and if its veracity were put in question it could drop.
- or the debasement could lead to speculation that there is LESS gold than previousely thought creating upward price pressure
- or the discovery could start a huge spread between physical price and derivitives and ETF's
I didn't file taxes for over 10 years, had tens of thousands of dollars going through my account a month, and hundreds of ounces of gold; the IRS never audited me which tells you how much they miss, so with the international banks, etc. it is much worse...
This German gold was probably sold with secret German concurrence.
See, how everyone is busy blaming Gordon Brown, for selling British gold at low prices.
Remember Gordon Brown could not have done this alone and single-handedly.
To those who remember, with Gordon Brown, other Central Banks sold gold too.
Known as the CBGA (Central Bank Gold Agreement) some 2000 tons of European gold was sold - at record low prices.
What could have been the reason?
The end of Soviet Union.
Did BundesBank know of this disappearence? Betcha.
Have such disappearances happened before? Many times.
1 of the 3 scams will happen:
1. NY Fed will give a 'certificate' from 1 of the Big-3 auditors confirming existence of German gold.
2. If pressed for physical audit, some gold from a distance will be pointed at & the auditors will be told, "See that gold there? It's yours."
3. Germany will get US gilts as replacement "Sell these & buy gold", the Germans will be told.