From: "Sarkki Lauri"
To: Andrew Hepburn
Sent: Tuesday, October 30, 2001 9:25 AM
Subject: Gold swaps

Dear Mr. Hepburn,
The swapped gold remains as a reserve asset in the bookkeeping of the Bank of Finland.
Best regards,
Lauri Sarkki
Manager InternationalRelations

Compare those answers to how the IMF answered this question put to them by Andrew Hepburn and the GATA Army:

4. Why does the IMF insist that members record swapped gold as an asset when a legal change in ownership has occurred?

This is not correct: the IMF in fact recommends that swapped gold be excluded from reserve assets. (see Data Template on International Reserves and Foreign Currency Liquidity, Operational Guidelines, para. 72, http://dsbb.imf.org/guide.htm).

-END-

The IMF has been caught. The central banks are not recording their gold swaps as part of their reserve assets on a whim. The IMF had a meeting with all of the member central banks in Santiago, Chile in October 1999 and told them exactly what to do. And, that is what they are doing!

This is further proof that the IMF has instructed its member banks to conceal the truth about the gold on its books. It also confirms that they lied to all of you that asked them the very same question that Andrew Hepburn did.

What it means is that the IMF banks are counting swapped gold that they no longer have possession of as a reserve asset. We now know for a fact that is the case with the Philippine, Finnish and Portuguese central banks. It must be the same for all the other IMF member central banks too.

This means the central banks do not have anywhere near the gold that they say they have. It strongly suggests that the Frank Veneroso gold loan/swap number of 10,500 to 16,500 tonnes are more likely the right numbers. These numbers are two to three times the official gold loan numbers acknowledged by the BIS and GFMS.

That means the central banks are going to run out of gold faster than anyone thinks and The Gold Cartel is going to run out of physical gold to continue their fraud. Maybe some already have. For example, the GATA camp has heard rumors the Bundesbank has lent out all its gold. The Bundesbank says that is not true and that it still has all its gold as a reserve asset, except for a small amount it lent out. Yet, if the gold is swapped, the gold is, for all practical purposes , gone - even while the Germans are counting the gold a reserve on their books.

What a scandal we could have brewing here. The German public could go berserk if the German gold is no longer theirs. No one is more concerned about inflation issues than the Germans. If their gold is gone, what do they have to back up their paper?

This is the kind of discovery that should have the gold producers jumping up and down for joy. They ought to be all over the IMF, for when the investment world realizes that the central banks of the world may have as much as 10,500 less tonnes of gold that is presently acknowledged, it could set off a gold buying panic.

Credit and debt concerns are popping up all over a la Argentina and the beleaguered Enron. The central banks cannot get 15,000 tonnes of gold back when mine supply is only 2500 tonnes per year and the natural supply/demand deficit running at around 1800 tonnes per year.

What a gold short squeeze we have coming. Extraordinary, it will be. Actually, I probably have to stand corrected. They will get their gold back, from the peasants of the world as gold soars to $1,000 or $2,000 per ounce.

Stay tuned on that one!