Scotland's top law officer urged to pursue investigation into Donald Trump's Scottish resorts after historic criminal conviction
Martyn McLaughlinPublished 31st May 2024, 14:19 BST
Former US president’s legal woes reignite calls for probe of Scottish properties
Scotland's most senior law officer has been urged to heed long-standing calls to investigate the source of the funds underpinning Donald Trump’s purchase of his flagship international resort after he became the first former US president to be convicted of a criminal offence.
In a historic decision on Thursday night, a New York jury found Trump guilty of falsifying business records to commit election fraud. He was found guilty of all 34 counts he faced, and is due to be sentenced on July 11, just days before the beginning of the Republican National Convention, where he is widely expected to be formally announced as the party’s presidential candidate.
The verdicts have sent shockwaves across the US and intensified debate around the implications for November’s election. However, the fallout is also being felt on this side of the Atlantic, where campaigners say the jury’s decision raises further questions about Trump’s Scottish assets and their financing.
Avaaz, the global activism organisation that led an unsuccessful petition at the Court of Session for a judicial review to force an Unexplained Wealth Order (UWO) against Trump in 2021, said the guilty verdicts further vindicated of its position. The body said it was unclear what more evidence was required by Lord Advocate Dorothy Bain KC.
Nick Flynn, Avaaz’s legal director, said: “We have always argued that the low threshold for seeking a UWO over Turnberry has been easily cleared. Trump's criminal conviction for fraud, together with the New York Attorney General's reliance on evidence of fraud at his Scottish golf courses in her massive civil fraud claim, vindicate the position we took in our judicial review of the Scottish Government.
“We established then that the Lord Advocate is responsible for using the power to seek a UWO to protect Scotland's reputation for financial probity, forcing Trump to clarify where he got the $60 million [£47m] in cash he used to buy Turnberry. Her failure to act is, frankly, inexplicable now. What more evidence does she need?”
Patrick Harvie, co-leader of the Scottish Greens, echoed calls for a UWO to be carried out in the wake of Trump’s conviction. “It raises even more serious questions about the trustworthiness of the former president, and I hope it will result in further investigations and questions raised about his business here in Scotland,” he said. “I would urge Scottish ministers and law officers to look again at the request for a UWO. If Donald Trump truly is the 'very innocent man' that he preposterously claims, then he surely has no reason to fear questions about his immense wealth and where it has come from.”
Donald Trump was found guilty on all counts at his New York criminal trial. Picture: Mark Peterson/Pool Photo via AP
A spokesman for Scotland’s Civil Recovery Unit said: “Civil recovery investigations, which include applications to the court for an UWO, are conducted on behalf of the Scottish ministers by the Civil Recovery Unit, which reports to the Lord Advocate. The CRU does not confirm or deny whether a civil recovery investigation has commenced. This is a statement of policy and, as such, nothing should be inferred, one way or the other.”
The Trump Organisation and Trump Turnberry have been contacted for comment.
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