TA Global says it has no dealings with Jared Kushner

KUALA LUMPUR (March 7): TA Global Bhd and its CEO Tiah Joo Kim have not been questioned by the FBI, nor do they have any business dealings with US President Donald Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner, according to the group’s statement yesterday.

The statement was issued in response to a CNN report last Friday, quoting anonymous sources as saying FBI investigators were looking into the president’s daughter Ivanka Trump’s role in the development of the Trump International Hotel and Tower Vancouver in Canada.

The Vancouver property opened in February 2017, a month after Trump took office at the White House. According to CNN, the project’s opening timing and the flow of foreign money into the project may be why investigators are looking into it.

CNN wrote that the current scrutiny on Ivanka could be a hurdle for the first daughter as she tries to obtain a full security clearance as adviser to the US president. It also said it is standard procedure to probe foreign contacts and international business deals as part of a background check.

Ivanka’s husband Kushner’s top secret security clearance in the White House was downgraded recently, amid investigations into his contacts with Russians and financial dealings with foreigners.

“TA Global Bhd and Tiah Joo Kim have not been contacted by the FBI or any authorities regarding the matters raised in the CNN report,” said TA Global.

“TA Global Bhd and Tiah Joo Kim’s business relationship with the Trump Organisation extends only to a brand licensing and hotel management for the development of Trump International Hotel and Tower Vancouver, jointly developed by TA Global Bhd and Holborn Group.”

Joo Kim is also CEO and president of Holborn Group, financially backed by his father Tony Tiah, chairman of TA Global and its holding company, TA Enterprise Bhd.

TA Global also pointed out the brand licensing and hotel management agreements with the Trump Organisation for the Vancouver project were entered into in 2013, before Trump announced he was running for the 2016 US presidency election.

It said Ivanka and her brother Donald Trump Jr represented the Trump Organisation in their business dealings with Joo Kim and the representatives of TA Global and Holborn Group once the deal was struck.

“Ivanka Trump’s involvement was specifically on interior design”, it said. “Neither TA Global Bhd nor Tiah Joo Kim has any interaction or business dealings with Jared Kushner whatsoever.”

“The entire development of the Trump International Hotel and Tower Vancouver was funded by TA Global Bhd and Holborn Group,” it added. 

TA Global shares slipped one sen or 2.9% to 33.5 sen yesterday, with a market capitalisation of RM1.81 billion. TA Enterprise was down 0.5 sen or 0.83% at 60 sen, with a market capitalisation of RM1.03 billion.

This article first appeared in The Edge Financial Daily, on March 7, 2018.

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