Trump's bid for Sydney casino 30 years ago rejected due to 'mafia connections’

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2017/aug/16/trumps-bid-for-sydney-casino-30-years-ago-rejected-due-to-mafia-connections?fbclid=IwAR20zeCO6owCvmo04NpxWfIdnWHqkSvWoPXDYUTAu1VYDkEBD3wBoa0KTQM

Christopher Knaus
Tue 15 Aug 2017 22.41 EDT
Last modified on Fri 9 Feb 2018 13.39 EST

A bid by Donald Trump to build Sydney’s first casino was rejected 30 years ago after police expressed concerns about his links to the mafia.

News Corp revealed on Wednesday morning minutes of the New South Wales cabinet that show police had warned the state government against approving a 1986-87 bid by a Trump consortium to build and operate a casino in Darling Harbour.

Trump, in partnership with the Queensland construction company Kern, was one of four groups vying for the lucrative project. The NSW government dumped it from the process on 5 May 1987, along with two other bidders.
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At the time, the state treasurer, Ken Booth, said he had received reports on the bids from the police board, the state’s Treasury, the Darling Harbour Authority, and an independent financial consultant.

“I wish to inform honourable members that in light of these reports the government has decided to eliminate three tenderers from further consideration,” Booth told the state parliament. “These are the HKMS consortium, the Federal-Sabemo consortium and the Kern-Trump consortium.”

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“Atlantic City would be a dubious model for Sydney and in our judgment, the Trump mafia connections should exclude the Kern/Trump consortium,” a summary of the police board’s report said.

The cabinet papers also show there were doubts about the viability of the Kern/Trump bid. A report prepared by the independent contractor, the Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce, found the Kern/Trump bid was one of two that were “not financially viable”.

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