London, May 22 (RHC)-- Lawyers for Venezuela's central bank said they have launched legal action against the Bank of England, demanding the release of gold reserves to be used to tackle the coronavirus pandemic.

London-based firm Zaiwalla & Co said it had been instructed by the Banco Central de Venezuela (BCV) "to issue a claim against the Bank of England for the release of $1 billion of Venezuela's gold reserves to help the country combat COVID-19."

It said BCV wrote last month to the Bank of England requesting the gold be transferred to the UN Development Program (UNDP), which is working to tackle the spread of coronavirus in the cash-strapped country, punished unjustly by a U.S. blockade.