Tiah Joo Kim, the son of property tycoon Tony Tiah, who was ranked by Forbes as the 35th richest man in Malaysia, faces pressure in Canada over his connection to Donald Trump, as reported by Today Online.
This comes as the Vancouver Trump International Hotel, which is owned and developed by Tiah Global, where the younger Tiah serves as chief executive, has become an unwelcome symbol due to Trump’s remarks about minorities and women.
“The building comes to represent the worst in humankind with that name on it: bullying, sexism and intolerance,” Kerry Jang, city councillor at Vancouver told Financial Times.
In fact, Jang and other city politicians are currently working to remove the Trump name from the tower.
The Tiahs could also be subject to scrutiny by the US authorities as the US president refuses to detach himself from his businesses.
Set to open by month-end, the RM1.2 billion glasshouse building is the first Trump hotel to open since Mr Trump’s inauguration on 20 January, said Financial Times.
And with the Trump Organisation receiving fees for licensing its name and additional “incentives” in the event revenue targets are met, the 63-storey property underscores the potential for conflicts of interest as well as violations of the US Constitution since Mr Trump is the current president.
“Like some of Mr Trump’s other properties, the Vancouver development raises the risk of violating the emoluments clause in the US constitution prohibiting elected officials from receiving benefits from foreign governments,” wrote Financial Times.
Despite all the pressure, the younger Tiah defended the Trump family, saying that he would not bow down to efforts to rename the building and severe ties with them.
The younger Tiah has built a bond with Trump’s son, Donald Jr, based on their common experience as second-generation of their respective family dynasties.
“I am locked in with the contract,” he told Financial Times, adding that the family of the US president is “aware I’m under pressure but what am I going to do?”
“From a business standpoint they haven’t done anything wrong,” he said.
Image sourced from Slate
Radin Ghazali, Content Writer at PropertyGuru, edited this story. To contact her about this or other stories email radin@propertyguru.com.my
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