US watchdog calls for inquiry into Trump’s Scottish Courses

A US political ethics watchdog has demanded the Department of Justice investigate Donald Trump’s Scottish golfing resorts after “suspect” financial disclosures.

The American Democracy Legal Fund (ADLF) has found “significant and widespread discrepancies” in the reported income at Trump Turnberry in South Ayrshire and Trump International in Aberdeenshire.

The body has written to Raymond Hulser, chief of the public integrity section at the Department of Justice, as well as Walter Shaub, director of the US Office of Government Ethics, and called for an official inquiry.

According to The Scotsman there is a massive gap between the figures reported by Trump to the Federal Election Commission (FEC) – an independent regulatory agency, which oversees the financing of elections – and those reported to Companies House in the UK.

ADLF claims Trump has broken the Ethics in Government Act, a law, which was introduced in the wake of the Watergate scandal. Under the legislation, presidential candidates are required to disclose their financial holdings and transactions.

Documents filed by Trump with the FEC last July claim Aberdeen resort generated income of $4.4m (£3.3m), but accounts filed with Companies House show it made losses of £1.1m in the year to December 2014.

A spokesperson for ADLF said “the numbers still do not add up”, and added for god measure that the “same discrepancies hold true” for Turnberry.

Trump told the FEC its income was $20.4m (£15.5m), but accounts for its parent company show a £3.6m loss.

Patrick Harvie, co-convenor of the Scottish Greens, said: “Scottish communities have been dumped on by Trump, with governments and public bodies taken for a ride. The more scrutiny he receives the better, as this deluded individual’s bid for power continues to falter.”

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