The Hong Kong firm whose management of two ports at either end of the Panama Canal sparked US President Donald Trump’s ire flouted the conditions of its contract, an audit by Panama’s authorities found on Monday.
The audit found “many breaches” of the concession awarded to a subsidiary of ports giant CK Hutchison to operate the two ports and said that Panama did not receive US$1.2 billion it was owed under the contract.
Panama’s Comptroller General office will introduce a lawsuit against the officials who authorised the renewal in 2021 of a 25-year concession to CK Hutchison for the operation of two key ports near the Panama Canal, the comptroller general said.
The contract to Panama Ports Company for the Balboa and Cristobal ports, in which CK Hutchison has a 90 per cent stake, had been under audit since January.
Reporting by Agence France-Press, Reuters
