AP reports from Panama City that President Donald Trump’s company appealed directly to Panama’s president to intervene in its fight over control of a luxury hotel, even invoking a treaty between the two countries, in what ethics experts say was a blatant mingling of Trump’s business and government interests.
That appeal in a letter last month from lawyers for the Trump Organization to Panamanian President Juan Carlos Varela was apparently unsuccessful — an arbitrator declined to reinstate the Trump management team to the waterfront hotel in Panama City. But it provides strong proof of exactly the kind of conflict experts feared when Trump refused to divest from a sprawling empire that includes hotels, golf courses, licensing deals and other interests in more than 20 countries.
The bitter standoff in Panama started in October when the owners of the hotel — which was run by Trump under a management agreement — sought to fire his company, citing damage to Trump’s brand and mismanagement by hotel officials. But the Trump Organization disputed its termination as illegitimate and refused to hand over the property.
It came to a head in early March, when Panamanian judicial officials took the side of majority owner and Greek-Cypriot Orestes Fintiklis and a justice of the peace backed by police officers ordered the Trump management team to vacate the property. Workers immediately scrubbed Trump’s signage from the hotel and renamed it The Bahia Grand Panama.
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Source: thenationalherald.com
