Fears raised over plans for Trump golf course
● Concerns over conflicts of interest ● Expansion is ‘not a new deal’
Plans for Donald Trump’s company to expand its golf resort near Aberdeen have raised concerns about conflicts of interest.
The tycoon has vowed his company will do “no new foreign deals” while he is president, but he has left “new” and “deals” open to interpretation and those words are drawing scrutiny.
A spokeswoman for the golf resort said the expansion is not a new deal, but just another construction phase that was included in the broad plan approved by the local government in 2008.
Some lawyers who specialise in government ethics are not convinced.
Richard Painter, who served as chief ethics lawyer for president George W Bush, said there are so many pending issues before local governments at each stage of a real
0 Donald Trump on the 18th tee of his golf course on the Menie Estate, Aberdeenshire estate project, it is like a new deal every time.
“Each phase requires building permits, each phase requires financing, each phase poses additional conflicts of interest,” said Mr Painter, a relentless Trump critic who has urged him to sell his company.
“Americans don’t want their president or any other highranking official dependent on a foreign government for a building permit.” The Scottish expansion is especially worrying, Mr Painter said, because the US will need to negotiate a trade deal with the United Kingdom now that it has voted to leave the EU.
Mr Painter said: “In that context, who is going to deny a permit to the president of the United States?”
In addition to its Scottish resort, the Trump Organisation has several other uncompleted international projects, including a hotel in Vancouver, British Columbia, a golf course in Dubai and two resorts in Indonesia.
His partner in Indonesia, billionaire developer Hary Tanoesoedibjo, plans to attend Mr Trump’s inauguration today as well as an official inauguration ball.
The Trump Organisation did not respond to requests for comment, except for the brief statement from its resort spokeswoman.
Mr Trump’s original 2008 proposal for the resort, the Trump International Golf Links, included plans to eventually add a 450room hotel, a second golf course, 500 luxury homes and 900 timeshare apartments.
A recent report cited plans now for about twice the number of homes and timeshare apartments.
Officials at Aberdeenshire Council could not confirm the figures but did say that plans for the second golf course are still under review and have not been approved.