Suspect gold rushes into global markets after major refinery breaches guidelines.
Hundreds of millions of dollars' worth of suspect gold has poured into the global markets amid major breaches in new international rules designed to tackle an underground trade linked to African warlords and human rights abuses.
Confidential papers shown to the Guardian by a whistleblower detail how, in 2012, one of the world's biggest gold refineries ignored guidelines designed to stop the trade in so-called "conflict gold". It paid out more than $5bn in cash for the metal and accepted gold from more than 1,000 customers walking in off the street with no paperwork.
While there is no evidence that the refinery accepted conflict gold, major breaches in new guidelines were uncovered, raising concern about the history of huge volumes of shipments.
Details of the damning findings have not been spelled out in full in public documents, but have been uncovered in a Guardian investigation. The leaked papers are also being reported by BBC2's Newsnight, Al Jazeera and campaign group Global Witness.
Allegations that the full scandal has not been laid bare are a huge setback to new international efforts — championed by Barack Obama, the United Nations, the European Union and many campaign groups — designed to stamp out the illicit trade in conflict gold by requiring the world's largest refineries to undergo independent audits to check they are sourcing gold responsibly and publishing the findings.
http://www.theguardian.com/business/2014/feb/25/conflict-gold-global-market-trading-kaloti
