Tungsten bars would take too much plotting and it would leak out.....I think. The best way to steal those gold bars at Ft Knox and under the NY Fed Reserve bank is to do a sleight of hand. A quick confusing shuffle that looks 100% legitimate. I think I saw old photos of how the gold bars under the NY Fed Reserve were allocated. They had different bull pens, one would have a sign saying Germany, another saying UK, another saying Venezuela etc... Hugo Chavez was smart enough to demand his country's gold be sent home from NY. Did the gold in those bull pens honestly represent. the amount of gold that say Germany has being held for them under the NY Fed Reserve? Who knows but we sure are dragging our feet in returning their gold as Germany has requested
Think of time shares in gold bars.
These central banks are returning to the old banking scheme of the gold bank. Where the banker would have the paper money he issued backed up by gold he held. But only 20% backed up because he would issue five times as many notes (value) as he had gold (value) in his vaults
How Russian Gold Reserve Was Plundered
Investigation of embezzlement of 786 tons of gold lasts for half a year already. Russian Prosecutor’s Office already found the planes, countries and banks where the gold was delivered. The Soviet Union exported large oil supplies, earnings were exchanged for gold and never got back to the country; fourteen billion of dollars still remain unclaimed in Belgium. We know that so-called “shadow flows” at the rate of 20 billion dollars leave the country every year. However, no measures are taken to stop such crimes.
I know lots of detective stories, one of them concerns Russian Duma faction Yabloko. In accordance with the agreement on differentiation of authorities between Russia and the republic of Tatarstan of 1992, enormous oil supplies left Tatarstan. As a repay, 200 computers were sent to Tatarstan, but they never arrived to the republic. Yabloko leader Grigory Yavlinsky preferred to hide for a month because of fear when the computers were stolen. In connection with this case and other facts, I can mention the assassination of Duma deputy Galina Starovoitova. Investigation of the crime is allegedly currently carried out, I also go to interrogations. But in fact, no measures are taken against the officials.
Let’s take Yegor Gaidar. It was he who was the author of the Chechen aviso made on 4 trillion rubles; this money was scattered about the country and sent to Siberia. Gold of the party and partially gold of artels was withdrawn from the country. The artels retained all gold within three years as the country experienced severe inflation, and gold always remained gold. But the gold was taken abroad, away from the country. However, Yegor Gaidar wasn’t brought into criminal account for such actions. Prosecutors are afraid to ask him questions concerning the case.
As for the money, it was used for privatization in the country. Those Supreme Council deputies who knew about the money, Vladimir Golovlev and Lezhnev are dead; Golovlev was assassinated in August this year. Investigator who carried out interrogations concerning gold of the party was killed at the same time.
Large supplies of oil, gold stolen from Magadan, Yakutia, Khabarovsk and silver from Russia’s Far East were withdrawn from the country; high-ranking officials such as Ministers for Internal Affairs Viktor Yerin, Andrey Dunayev, Anatoly Kulikov, Vladimir Rushailo were perfectly aware of the gold outflow. As a result of the criminal activity, 500 tons of gold were withdrawn from Russia, but no measures were taken in connection with the crime.
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/01/17/business/global/german-central-bank-to-repatriate-gold-reserves.html?_r=0
During the cold war, West Germany followed a policy of storing its gold as far west as possible in case of a Soviet invasion. While that worry is gone, there is still an argument for keeping some gold in financial centers like New York and London. It remains the one currency that is accepted everywhere. In the event of a currency crisis, the gold could be quickly deployed in financial markets to help restore confidence.The New York Fed stores the German gold without cost on the theory that the presence of foreign gold supports the dollar’s status as the global reserve currency. A spokesman for the New York Fed declined to comment.
The Bundesbank announcement follows a public outcry last year after a clash in Parliament about whether all the bank’s gold was properly accounted for.
Great links. Thanks