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Ukraine Central Bank Conned Into Swapping Its Gold For Lead Bricks
Just when one thought the story of Ukraine and its (now non-existant) gold could not get any more surreal, it did.
As a reminder, it was about a month ago when we learned courtesy of an interview on Ukraine TV with the country's central bank head Valeriya Gontareva, that Ukraine's gold was virtually all gone, when she made the stunning admission that "in the vaults of the central bank there is almost no gold left. There is a small amount of gold bullion left, but it's just 1% of reserves."
That in itself would have been sufficient to explain why just a few short days later, the Netherlands shocked the world when it announced it had secretly repatriated 122 tonnes of gold from the NY Fed, and had the story of Ukraine's missing gold ended there (or even with the criminal probe launched by Ukraine whether the central bank head had abused her power and misused her office when she "intentionally committed an extremely unfavorable transaction for the gold and forex reserves of Ukraine"), it still would have been one of the most bizarre, surreal stories of 2014.
Luckily, the story just got far better, and far, far more bizarre and surreal.
As Bloomberg reports, Ukraine opened a criminal probe after several gold bars at the central bank’s storage in the southern city of Odessa turned to be painted lead.
"The management of the central bank’s branch in Odessa asked us to investigate fraud by their employee," Volodymyr Shablienko, head of the Odessa police’s press office, said by phone today. "We are conducting a forensic audit now."
As Bloomberg explains, the latest gold fraud involved a central bank employee passing lead bars covered with golden paint to the storage unit, registering them as gold, the Vesti newspaper reported today, citing an unidentified person with knowledge of the matter in Odessa’s police department.
According to additional information from RT, the central bank was actually conned into buying the gold-plated lead.
Yes lead, not even tungsten.
RT adds that the National Bank of Ukraine (NBU) has confirmed the theft of several kilograms of gold in the Odessa region. The cashier involved has apparently fled to Crimea, Vesti Ukraine reports. Criminal proceedings began on November 18, even though the scam apparently took place between August and October.
In other words, when Ukraine still, allegedly, had some gold left. Now it has no more gold, but at least it has some very expensive lead.
A preliminary investigation suggests the gang had someone working for them inside the bank that forged the necessary paperwork to allow the sale of the fake gold bullion. It’s also been discovered that bank staff were not regularly checked when entering or exiting the premises.
Altogether some 11 kilograms of gold worth about $420,000 are missing.
And while one can laugh at the stupidity of a central bank duped into believing gold-plated lead is the real deal, the real stunner is that according to the First Deputy Central Bank Governor Oleksandr Pysaruk, the central bank “took a principal decision that we will not buy gold any more from the population. We are making conclusions internally, including changing our procedures."
In other words, until December, the central bank would buy any gold-plated lead, or tungsten, without any authenticity tests from any member of the population, or in other words, exchanging its existing reserves, i.e., gold (which it no longer has after converting most of it into dollars), into lead.
There is a potential silver lining here in that whoever ended up getting the bulk of Ukraine's gold reserves, is now also the proud owner of a few hundreds kilograms of gold-plated lead.
One really couldn't make this up, which is perhaps the point. Better for the public to be focused on the stupidity of its central bankers, than on their criminality for selling out the people's gold (or worse, giving it away for free in exchange for political favors of the current class of US State Department muppets) to unknown buyers in exchange for a few pieces of green paper.
h/t Marco
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All they needed was one of these:
http://www.sigmametalytics.com/
Idiots...
[Cash, Bonds, Gold,... REAL Gold...]
They had bought one of those from its citizens - but it was fake.
Who is gullible enough to buy lead instead of gold?
Lead has a density of about 11.3 grams per cc
Gold has a density of about 19.3 grams per cc
Tungsten has a density of 19.3 grams per cc.
All we know for sure is that it was Russia's fault.
let this be a lesson to any piddling nation who thinks to benefit from running into the arms of America
Russia swapped this shit in out in the middle of the night last year, and took the real stuff home.
I'm lol'ing. Good for Putin.
And this is why paper is superior to physical.
Any idiot can put a Benjamin on the copy machine.
What are you talking about?
As if I needed any more reasons to keep stacking!
Fawk golds its gonna be useless. Buy Bitcoin instead!
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/news/internet-kill-switch-obama/
This article shows why the Fed won't allow an independent audit of the US gold reserves.
When it comes to corruption and theft of state assets, the Ukie government is world class. Their actions would shame african dictators.
They are so crooked that the Ukie government was forced to place 3 foreigners at the most senior levels of their government by the USSA.
There are Ukie government officials that would steal the eyes out of your head, literally.
http://www.globalresearch.ca/organ-harvesting-in-ukraine-goes-unreported...
This recently in, Ukraine government accuses Russia of stealing gold from the Ukraine.
http://vestnikkavkaza.net/news/politics/59160.html
feel good to eat junk. feel good. we work off after holidays.
Betcha those guys who looted the Central Bank's vault in the dead of night and flew off with the stuff are PISSED!
Now, one more time?
Where is Ukraine's gold?
"We Ft Knoxed some Folks"
PS Everybody should know by now that the way to test for if something is real gold or not is to drop it in a glass of water and if it drops to the bottom, it's a witch.
Wow.
That has got to be one of the funniest things I have ever read on the Hedge.
Hat tip to you, sir.
You're all having a laugh about that, but the truth is that it's devastating for the simple citizens.. A whole country destroyed and stolen..
Every country is about the same right now, USA included, you just don't know it yet . (Or you do, if you read Zerohedge)
The gallows humor is pretty decent on ZH
Two Latvian look at clouds.
One see potato. Other see impossible dream.
Is same cloud.
One day, hear knock on door.
Man ask "Who is?"
"Is potato man, I come around to give free potato"
Man is very excite and opens door.
Is not potato man, is secret police.
Two Latvian look at clouds.
Whole sky is clouds.
Weather is bad.
Latvian are cold.
##################################################################
the United States preparing for the end of trading precious metals and lock the official dollar
###################################################################
fr link : http://www.stratediplo.blogspot.fr/2014/12/les-etats-unis-preparent-la-f...
Well, if the sheep of Ukraine didin't know it was a bad idea so suck the dick of the USSA, they will soon figure it out when the bread lines start forming and their fellow citizens are starving to death. Rejoice citizens of Ukraine.... the tribe, CIA operatives and mercanaries have liberated you!!!!!! Enjoy your newfound freeDUMB!
Russia sucks its own dick, no need to worry.
https://twitter.com/UKinUkraine/status/547061283720527872/photo/1
.
I've never known that test to fail.
The most accurate test ever devised.
A "Wolf Nipple Chip" tm in your geneal direction.
No it's not, Zippy's got it backwards. If it floats it's a witch. If it sinks it drowns, but at least it's exonerated of being a witch.
ROTFLMAO knukles..... that is some funny shit!
Worth repeating: They couldn't be bothered with tungsten. They were given LEAD.
Mind you, that lead could be reaallllllllly USEFUL!!! They could even use it to get their gold back!
But please, once they re-model that lead, who is going to make sure they deliver it in the right direction?
They should keep that in mind next time Vicoria Nuland shows up with her lousy cookies.
Maybe the Ukranians can ask Vickie if she might have an idea who could possibly want to scam thier gold.
Oi Vey !
Even better, there is a suggestion that George Soros may be joining the Ukraine government.
Anyone check her Swiss bank account balances and safe deposit boxes ? I bet we'd all be surprised.
Actually, Soros joining the Ukraine government would be fabulous. A dream come true. It would put him very close to the Russian border. And since the Ruskies have him on a wanted list it wouldn't be too much of a strain on the Spetsnaz to collar him and disappear him once and for all.
Soros for Ukraine President! Soros for Ukraine President!
1% ? did someone drop a wedding band?
to latina lover: kind of like the USSA putting dual citizens in charge of all the important spots in the U.S. government and the central bank(seat of real power). Where are their loyalties centered.
That speech where Vicki bragged about the 5 billion spent bringing democracy to the Ukraine, she was flanked on both sides of the podium by big Chevron flags. Chevron has now called it quits in Ukraine.
“Foreign investment will start to flow only if there is a healthy, predictable investment environment based on the rule of law,” said Ulrich Benterbusch, managing director at German energy agency Dena. “This includes drastic measures to reduce the endemic corruption.”
http://www.epmag.com/chevron-shale-exit-shreds-ukraines-hope-energy-independence-775431
Netherlands got their gold back, I suspect, in a bribe to STFU and stop investigating the Malaysian plane incident by .gov. Any other plausible explanation why the Netherlands gets its gold back but Germany doesn't?
got anymore good theories for we?
At least they used gold paint. It isn't cheap you know. Anyway if the sh@# keeps going down hill, high speed lead may be worth more than gold... for a while.
If you have to huff paint, "da gole paint is da bes"
Funny. A Rapid City cop told me that 20 years ago.
Because the Dutch royal family is in cahoots with the English royal family stealing and then hunting and raping young children for sport?
Germany is an occupied territory?
I think I am gonna stick with the royal bloodline thing... yeah.
The reason Netherlands gets it's gold back before Germany is that the Netherlands has less net wealth, considering gold and debt only. They are heavily indebted, and their gold reserves, if sold, still place them far behind Germany. A little spreadsheet of Total Debt - Gold Reserves = position showed Netherlands were the most bankrupt, or had the least gold to debt ratio. Moreso than any other country on the planet. I guess that gigantic walls, reclaimed land and dykes aren't cheap and have all been funded with debt, and their reserves are piddling in comparison.
Canada has fuck all gold.
The reason Netherlands gets its gold back before Germany is Germany won't accept lead as a substitute.
The secrecy of the MH17 investigation had been pre-arranged with the Netherlands even before Dutch getting (Iraqi? Libyan? Ukrainian?) gold from the U.S.:
Why Is MH17 Investigation Obsessed with Secrecy?
The goddamned North Korean Hackers made Putin do it!
Fawk the "kill switch" they can't do shit to we.
Going to laugh at you ignorant fuckwads after the dollar collapse. There's going to be even more technology than before, going even faster than before. If you ain't down with it, rot in hell then.
Going to laugh at you ignorant fuckwads after the dollar collapse
because somehow, in your mind, we're uninformed about that and completely unprepared. Run along now dipshit, I think I hear your mother blowing the mailman. You know how she likes you to watch.
yeah we ignorants think time going back to 1900. Last time we check time still go FORWARD.
So many technophobes and geezers in your cuntry that maybe the first time and place ever that time actually does go BACKWARDS.
So you're going to accuse people who post on an internet site of being technophobes? Did you ever consider that some of here are well versed in technology and understand the LIMITATIONS of technology. And maybe that's why we own precious metals as part of our protection against all this.
Dude what fucking language are you trying to speak?
Ahh never fucking mind.
If you'd like to tell me specifically what the fuck you're talking about, then we'll both know and I can make fun of you for something I understand. But for now, speak English idiot. I don't know of any point in history where time went backwards and coincidentally, I didn't intimate such nonsense.
We are intimately imbued by the nonsense of doomsday preppers. We live past the hyperinflation and then we what? Then we get on with thee show. ANd the show always go FORWARD and the peeps think that the dooms last ferevermere? No that is all wrong, okay?
to the analog: Why the fuck are you here? Absolutely no one here learns from you and we all want you to stop wasting space. Why not try breathing helium for a while.
???????? ?????? ???????????? ???? ??????????.
Found in Victoria Nuland's purse!!!!!!
Hunter Biden gave it to her.
Bruce Krasting and WB7 were definately not there....
Probably. But what about the gold paint spray?
"Fuck the Au!"
Evidence !! Priceless !
Painted lead is best. Just as shiny and easier to carry.
Got a chuckle from me, because in retrospect it's true. I have not cut one, let alone all of my gold to make sure it is legit throughout. I doubt many here have.
"Any idiot can put a Benjamin on the copy machine."
What a foolish statement. When's the last time you stepped outside and beheld these new $100's. You think your local Kinko's can replicate that? Face it, the difficultly and penalty of producing counterfeit paper is higher than the theft and smelting of a gold brick.
Lead is the new tungsten.
I usually buy gold AND lead.....not lead plated gold.
If life hands you a lemon, make whiskey sours...
If life hands you "lead" gold, cast bullets, and rectify the problem.
Lead plated gold is not so bad. Gold plated lead sucks.
It's the Reece's peanut butter cup of shit hitting the fan.
Splendid dog fuckery on the part of the painter.
We should try that to replentish Fort Knox.
Just turn and burn the cash into real world assets asap, after the heist of the Fed for fake gold.
wonder if Boris
was involved in this...
Boris specialisty is mine copper ore.
There is some debate about that. Word is North Korea...
NO, no; it's Putin's fault. It said so on CNN. (made up for joke)..
In this words of ECB, this would be "negative alchemy."
Tungsten is so last year.
I would disagree. The physical inventory at Fort Knox is predominantly tungsten. So I would say the tungsten bubble hasn't even begun to blow...
I hope my kruggers and double eagles are legit. Might have to have a shower with them. Gives me an excuse to be with them again.
Haha I've got more gold than the Ukrainian central bank. I might open my own central bank. Get George Soros working for me as the gimp. "Go get my gold to count you fucking gimp", "What did you say you fucking nazi assfuck? Go get my fucking gold before I strangle you with your own gut cunt".
many of us are in the same boat
[ more gold than ukrainian bank ]
if they haven't sunk mysteriously....
That won't be a problem if you can refrain from eating the gold recovery seal team.
burp....
my bad...
yes the Tungsten trick is what happen to the US supply at ft. knox under Clinton supposedly. It makes this story not very believable as someone just thought of the ol alchemical thing of lead and gold.
Government personnel...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3ruk-HS7stM
Back to my drink
Not gullible, just corrupt. Even a government employee knows better than to buy unassayed gold from an untrusted source. Unless of course, the gold was bought from the US Fed, which may be the real scandal.
Ignorant Thugs; just like the original German Nazi's they admire so much. Isn't Karma wonderful ?
maybe, for such stupidity, they deserved getting the bulk of it stolen by the freedom fighters (or however the hell they were).
CIA contract employees and you know it. One of our infamous "military / security contractors".
Why would anyone want to steal a barbaric relic?
People sure love stealin' "tradition", as the Bernanke would put it.
Krugmaaaaaaaaan!!
North Korea stole it!
I think you mean gangsters sold it.
“This is an action on behalf of the American people to seek prompt imposition of the Supreme Court’s essential financial remedy – a constructive trust – to redress unjust enrichment by ensuring that ill-gotten gains are disgorged,” begins the civil action complaint. “This deters breaches of fiduciary duty, addresses irreparable damage to the safety of the American people and prevents dangerous disruption of foreign affairs due to irresponsible conduct of disloyal government operatives and entertainment industry collaborators.”
Full Article here http://rt.com/usa/216787-citizenfour-lawsuit-kansas-edwards/
good Snowden profile badly needs the publicity
had a private screening in commercial cinema
Fuck me runnin', they doubled down.
If the government really works for the people, the people paid for the information that was/is gathered. How can .gov deny Joe Public access to information they paid for the collection of?
We are, in fact, being forced, at the point of a gun (lots of guns, really) to pay for the building of the prison we inhabit.
What about the fiduciary resonsibility of government???
Horace and JD 1-10 are the real traitors.
Ukraine can't even afford Tungsten...
Tungtsen can take the heat, but they can't.
I sure hope the Netherlands got some of that lead. Let's get this shit storm started already.
That would be rather humorous. I'll bet they are checking all night.
That is the lead story in the Ukraine papers right now....
....."lead" story?..... hello? is this mike on?
....<never mind>....
don't paint this
as a comedy
It's more like a romantic comedy with a love triangle and plot twist.
They could drop the bricks into the central bank water cisterns thereby saving on water charges on each flush. That's just as useful as were they gold.
I figured at some point my acid trip would end. Not yet, it seems.
Maybe not but that is one grooooovy avatar........shagarific baby yeah
Thanks. Drugs are one of the few subjects I can claim to be an expert in.
Couldn't claim to be an expert, but have done a reasonable amount of research!
free basing
walrus whiskers...
A case of cheapest to deliver undoubtedly.
Brilliant!
From the headline, I thought this was going to be a story where Ukraine swapped its gold for defective Western arms. Maybe that's a later story.
Ukraine is as careful with their gold as they are with their BUK missiles.
LOL
Idiots should have stored it for safety at the NY Fed ... . oh wait
Thus: All that glitters is not gold.
At the risk of appearing pedantic, that should be 'glisters'.
There are four sorts of humanoids you only deal with at your own expenses: the mafia, the FED, the US State Department and the Ukies.
Isn't it interesting that all four of those subgroups are controlled by the same supremacist tribe?
"Isn't it interesting that all four of those subgroups are controlled by the same supremacist tribe?"
Who? The mafia was basically Italian, the State Department and the FED are as American as apple pie, and the Ukies are... well, the Western Ukies who hold the power nowadays were formerly Austro-Hungarians and Poles. So, who do you mean? Aliens? Jews? Jewish Aliens?
Some cheek, a guy from "the exceptional country" blaming supremacism on others!
yes, bulk of mafia was italian.The supreme don was meyer lansky, a good italian name.
more than one at the top
The obvious answer is Rothchild. It is a family thing, not race or creed, just greed. Of course they trust those most familiar to them. It is the same for any mafia family.
Iwanttoknow, yes, of course. There was ONE Jew in the mafia, so it was entirely dominated by Jews. Obviously.
You know paranoia is a mental condition, do you?
TheReplacement, same to you. Rothschild not a member of the FED. You can check any time you feel up to challenging your own racial prejudices, if that blessed day can come for you - which I doubt. It's so comfortable to have someone to blame for America's shortcomings...
http://archive.adl.org/special_reports/control_of_fed/print.html
Murder Inc., you may of heard of them.
Are you quoting the ADL, really?
I assumed you're actually looking for some truth, but now you have shown your hand: obfuscation.
I caught that too.
I've never seen anyone on ZH...even the most pathetic troll....site the ADL.
Wow. Peak ball washing troll has finally come.
Must double efforts.
Lea...You wrote, "You know paranoia is a mental condition, do you?"
Yeah...I do know that.
It seems that every Law Enforcement Agent is afflicted with a CHRONIC MENTAL ILLNESS.
I suggest that you seek treatment. The condition is sometimes managable but it is not curable. Your psychiatrist can prescribe the appropriate medications for your condition.
I am sorry. But being Mentally Ill in the World is a major disadvantage...for you when the collapse happens...and for the victims of your viiolence currently.
You need to seek help.
double post
sorrie
Ukrainian "Red" Mafiya is not Italian
Someone should do a study on the correlation of gangsterism in a society with the number of tribe members in power.
Not that it would imply causation, mind you.
Are you referring to the 'propnderance of evidence', by chance?
The criteria has been met by all means. All that is needed is a court to hear the case.
Alas, the justice system is controlled too.
And on another news. Australian government has appointed a minister for the banks (Financial Services Minister). Guess his religious persuasion?
Santa? Coming to town?
p.s. Think 'anagram'.
Goldman Sackers $1,057 gold prediction for end of 2014 looks like EPIC FAIL.
But not for trying, lying, thieving, stealing gold from small nations by the MICsters.
Not sure that's an EPIC fail, maybe just a fail.
We aren't that far away from that price, and the year isn't over yet. 3 or for more days like today and we're in the ballpark.
Put the truck in reverse!
Bullish for yellow paint.
I thought the Ukie gold was already stored for 'safe keeping' at the NY Fed?
Yeah. How safe can you get?
Lake Michigan.
Apparently gold is so worthless now that the greatest powers on earth are stealing it in the dead of night. Ironic that the next story on ZH is about the hammering that gold and oil took today as the s and p joke index rose to new highs.
Can you imagine if these guys still had their nukes ? Uh, we were gonna launch , but all that was left were some bottle rockets and a few packs of firecrackers , but hey all the paperwork matchs up !