Court action seeks investigation into Donald Trump’s Scottish golf course purchases
- Scottish government faces new legal challenge over its rejection of a motion to investigate Trump’s all-cash purchases of two golf courses
- Global human rights group is seeking a judicial review of the government’s decision not to pursue an ‘unexplained wealth order’ on Trump’s business
The Scottish government is facing a new legal challenge over its February rejection of a motion to investigate former US President Donald Trump’s all-cash purchases of two golf courses, reviving an effort to force Trump to disclose how he financed the deals.
Avaaz, a global human rights group, filed a petition in Scotland’s highest civil court seeking a judicial review of the government’s decision not to pursue an “unexplained wealth order” on Trump’s business. In February, parliament voted 89-to-32 against the motion, which was brought by the minority Scottish Green Party would have sought details on the source of the money the Trump Organisation used to buy the courses in 2006 and 2014.
The Avaaz petition, which has not been previously reported, was served on Scotland’s government on Monday.
Trump, after decades of buying properties with debt, spent more than US$300 million in cash purchasing and developing the Scottish courses, neither of which has turned a profit. Some Scottish politicians have cited mounting investigations into Trump’s US financial interests as grounds to scrutinise his business dealings in Britain.
The British government introduced unexplained wealth orders in 2018 to help authorities fight money laundering and target the illicit wealth of foreign officials. The orders do not trigger a criminal proceeding. But if the Trump Organisation could not satisfy the court that the money was clean, the government, in theory, could seize the properties.