During the time he was Chancellor, Gordon Brown decided to sell 400 tons of gold from England’s gold reserves. Selling during that period, when the price was at a 20-year low was the worst decision ever. Since then the price of gold has almost quadrupled. Because Mr. Brown’s bad judgement call, the British taxpayers lost a significant amount of money that adds up to 7 billion pounds.
This move is seen as one of the worst financial mistakes made by the Treasury. The sale of the British gold reserves is going to be a major election issue and it will also bring into the spotlight Gordon Brown’s decisions. After several years in which there were a series of requests regarding the freedom of information, the Treasury was finally ordered to release details on the subject by the end of April.
Politicians have now come to the conclusion that the British taxpayers have the right to know what happened with the 7 billion pounds of money that they lost. The sale is said to have been pushed to happen by Gordon Brown inspite of some misgivings at the Bank of England. It is some people’s belief that the senior Bank experts were not even consulted on the matter.
The Information Commissioner decided to order the Treasury to release information only after 4 years so this move is also bound to raise some criticism. This happened despite the public and political interest in the matter. Many officials have missed their deadlines to order the release of information because the of the delay caused by the Commissioner. The consequence is that a proper analysis of the disclosures will not be possible now.
Thanks to the press, the public was able to find out about the secret meetings between the Treasury and the Commissioner and about the fact that they intend to keep much of the paperwork a secret. In his official statement, the Information Commissioner clearly declared that the only some pieces of information are to be revealed to the public. If the information required is not released by the Treasury, the institution will be held in contempt of court and will face legal action.
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