Panama auditor targets ex-port regulators and CK Hutchison’s executives in canal probe

Panama’s comptroller general said on Friday that his office would send prosecutors more audit material on former executives of CK Hutchison’s local subsidiary next week, as part of a criminal investigation into the Hong Kong conglomerate’s annulled Panama Canal ports concession.

Speaking at the Atlantic Council in Washington, Anel Flores said prosecutors had requested documents concerning Panama Ports Company (PPC), the operator of the Balboa and Cristobal terminals at either end of the canal until February.

In addition to some PPC executives, the material covers former board members of the Panama Maritime Authority, the regulator that oversaw the concession.

Flores urged prosecutors to hold them accountable for changes to the concession terms that he said had disadvantaged the country, though he did not name anyone or announce charges.

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Panama President Mulino rejects US claims of Chinese influence in Panama Canal

The request had become a point of friction between the two offices. In August, Flores told local broadcaster TVN that prosecutors had shown no movement on possible corruption at PPC for more than a year, prompting the Public Ministry to reply that its file already ran to more than 360 volumes and that it was still waiting for an expanded audit from his office.

Prosecutors opened the inquiry in April last year, shortly after Flores presented an audit alleging that Panama had received US$483 million from the concession, against about US$1.34 billion owed under the original contract.

He also accused PPC of using outsourced “satellite” companies from 2015 to drain profits from the operator, in which the state held 10 per cent; allegations the company denied.

On Friday, Flores went further, arguing that strategic infrastructure such as ports should be state-owned and run by private firms under profit-sharing arrangements.

“I think that most of these … highly important resources, like the ports, port system should be owned by the government,” he said, describing the idea as his opinion rather than the government’s position.

The proposal runs against the course set by Panamanian President Jose Raul Mulino, whose government plans to tender Balboa and Cristobal separately for private concessions of 25 to 30 years and expects to award them before mid-2027.

Until then, the terminals remain with Maersk’s APM Terminals and MSC’s Terminal Investment Limited, which took over in February under interim contracts of up to 18 months.

Court ruling and arbitration claims

Flores launched the audit in January last year, as US President Donald Trump accused China of controlling the canal, and later used its findings to file two lawsuits with the Supreme Court. He has said the review was unrelated to US pressure.

In January, the court declared unconstitutional the 1997 law approving the concession along with its 2021 extension.

PPC answered with an International Chamber of Commerce arbitration claim that now exceeds US$2 billion. CK Hutchison opened a separate investment treaty case against Panama in August, seeking more than US$1.5 billion.

Beijing also reacted to the ruling, which China’s Hong Kong and Macau Affairs Office called “absurd”.

Beijing denied retaliating, and the detentions fell after the two governments agreed in July to renew a bilateral maritime transport agreement, according to the Panama Maritime Chamber.