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| View of the hotel entrance sign after the Trump letters were removed, outside the hotel in Panama City on March 5, 2018 |
The owner of the Trump Hotel in Panama City said Monday he had succeeded in expelling the management company of the US president's family from the building.
Cypriot
businessman Orestes Fintiklis, who owns a majority of the Trump Ocean Club
International Hotel and Tower in Panama, said it was "a commercial dispute
that just spun out of control, and today this dispute has been settled by the
judges and the authorities in this country."
Workers
removed the Trump logo from the entrance to the luxury complex, where police
had been deployed earlier in the day.
"Today
Panama has showcased stable institutions, rule of law and investor-friendly
legal framework," said Fintiklis in a brief statement to the press.
The row
erupted last month when Fintiklis, a Miami-based investor who last year became
owner of the majority of units in the building through a company he controls,
said he wanted to boot the Trump Organization out before its management
contract was up, remove the Trump name and rebrand the building.
In lawsuits
lodged in the United States, Fintiklis alleged a decline in occupancy in the
hotel. The Trump Organization hit back, claiming Fintiklis was breaching his
contractual commitments as owner.
Fintiklis
complained to the Panamanian prosecutors' office that Trump Organization
employees were barring him access to the units he owns in the sail-shaped
complex, which also boasts a casino, shops, a spa and a small private beach.
The complex
was inaugurated in 2011 by Trump and Panama's president at the time, Ricardo
Martinelli. Martinelli is currently on bail in Miami fighting extradition to
Panama, where he is charged with corruption and spying.
The hotel
and the majority of the apartments were sold last year to Fintiklis' Ithaca
Capital Partners, which is based in Miami.
As part of
the deal, the administration of the hotel remained in the hands of the Trump
Organization, run by the president's two sons since he took office last year.
Trump
Hotels last week accused Fintiklis of "fraud" and using
"mafia-style tactics" to force its administration staff out of the
disputed building.
There have
been reports of physical confrontations between the new owner and his team and
the Trump administration staff.
Last month,
Panamanian prosecutors announced they were opening an investigation into the
case following complaints by Fintiklis that he had been prevented from entering
the building.
Accompanied by police and a court order, majority owners of Trump hotel in Panama City take ownership from Trump management #TrumpOceanClub pic.twitter.com/HagJMqupIS— AFP news agency (@AFP) March 6, 2018
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