The Central Bank of Venezuela has filed a lawsuit against the Bank of England, demanding the return of gold stored there worth over $ 1 billion, Reuters reported referring to court documents.

A lawsuit filed in a commercial court in London dated May 14 states that Venezuelan authorities intend to send the funds received to the funds of the UN development program, which will help the country in the fight against the spread of COVID-19. According to the documents, the proceeds from the sale of gold should go to the purchase of medical equipment, medicines, and food for the residents of Venezuela.

“The foot-dragging by the Bank of England is critically hampering Venezuela and the UN’s efforts to combat COVID-19 in the country,” Sarosh Zaiwalla, a London-based lawyer representing the central bank, said in a statement.

The Bank of England declined to comment on the claim from the Venezuelan Central Bank. Venezuelan Central Bank did not respond to a Reuters request.

In January, Bloomberg, citing sources, reported that the Bank of England refused to give Venezuela 1.2 billion gold bars. One of the agency’s interlocutors said that this decision was made after US State Department chief Mike Pompeo and US national security adviser John Bolton put pressure on the UK authorities to block Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro’s access to his assets abroad. Later, Maduro said that the Bank of England kept 80 tons of gold, which belong to the authorities of Venezuela.

In April, according to Reuters, Caracas was unable to ensure that the Bank of England responded to a request for the sale of part of Venezuelan ingots to transfer the proceeds to the funds of the UN development program, which could help Venezuela in the fight against COVID-19.