Civic Group Wins Ruling That Might Force Trump To Explain Turnberry Financing

The New York Times’ Stephen Castle explains the latest twist in Scotland’s troubled relationship with the Trump Organization after a judge ruled in favor of online campaign group Avaaz.

But on Wednesday a judge ruled that Avaaz, an online campaign group, should be given the right to challenge the government’s rejection of calls for such a move.

Nicknamed “McMafia orders,” unexplained wealth orders were introduced in 2018 to strengthen the government’s armory against organized crime. Those subject to them can ultimately be forced to forfeit their assets if they are unable to explain satisfactorily how they were purchased.

Though it remains far from clear that such an investigation will ever arise in this case, Wednesday’s court decision is nonetheless a setback for Mr. Trump, whose financial and tax dealings are under investigation in the United States.

Severin Carroll has followed the story for some time and noted this in his Guardian piece:

Recent accounts show the Turnberry business owes Trump £114m, and the Aberdeenshire estate £44m.

Sandison allowed the Avaaz application to proceed even though it was technically time-barred, and also decided a future judicial review could investigate Trump’s finances, not just the dry technical question of whether ministers can order a UWO inquiry.

After rejecting the government’s protests that the petition was filed too late, the judge ruled there were clear matters of public importance raised by the Avaaz case.

“The question comes to be whether the petition raises matters of such live and substantive public importance as to render it in the interests of justice to allow it to proceed out of time,” Sandison said.