KUALA LUMPUR, May 2 — Malaysian property developer Tiah Joo Kim has disposed of the controversial Trump International Hotel and Tower in Vancouver, Canada that his firm developed.
Tiah, the son of local tycoon Datuk Tony Tiah, had come under fire from Vancouver residents since last year over the project’s association to US presidential hopeful Donald Trump.
Trump was criticised over racial remarks in which he categorised immigrants as rapists and drug runners, triggering backlash in parts of the US as well as neighbouring Canada.
The US$360 million (RM1.125 billion) Trump Tower had been shelved in 2009, but was revitalised in 2013 and due to be completed by the end of this year.
The 63-storey tower consists of 15 storeys of hotel followed by over 200 units of condominiums.
According to the Vancouver Sun, Tiah now plans to develop a US$300 million (RM 937 million) residential area on a 15-acre site his family bought from the British Columbia government in 2007.
Tiah’s father was fined in 1999 with helping businessman Datuk Soh Chee Wen defraud Omega Securities, a midsized stock brokerage firm.
