This is because the report uses Chinese interference claims to promote strategic waterway management.
Panama auditors report that the owners of the main Hong Kong-based Panama Canal Port are violating the terms of the contract.
Secretary Anel Flores announced Monday that the audit had discovered “many violations” of concessions awarded to Hong Kong-based logistics giant CK Hutchison to operate Balboa and Cristobal ports near the Panama Canal.
The report suggests that US President Donald Trump continues to seek control of the strategic waterway, and that the timing of his discovery and announcement may be linked.
The auditors concluded that CK Hutchison failed to pay Panama $1.2 billion under the contract. Flores said the Port of Panama, the subsidiary that operates the facility, benefited from a number of tax exemptions and was found to be responsible for the irregularities of previous audits.
“This is a very sensitive issue,” Flores told journalists, adding that he will file a complaint with the prosecutor in the coming days regarding the unpaid concession fees.
“There are a lot of violations that need to be explained,” he added.
The Port of Panama gained concessions in 1997 to operate the Pacific edge of the Panama Canal in the Atlantic and Balboa near Cristobal. The contract was renewed for another 25 years in 2021.
But the management of the facility by the Hong Kong-based company has been under scrutiny since accusing China of obstructing its strategic waterways. He promises to seize control of the Panama Canal that the United States handed over to Panama in 1999, and claims it is essential to the US national security.
CK Hutchison agreed to sell the port to a US BlackRock company earlier this year, effectively putting the port under US control. However, the contract has not yet been finalized. This is filled with Beijing’s wrath.
Flores said the audit results will be sent to Panama’s maritime authorities. It has the authority to oversee the port and terminate the concession agreement.
That’s the main point, with some analysts suspecting in an audit designed to allow Panama to strip Hong Kong companies from their contracts to appease the Trump administration.
Euclyde Tapia, professor of international relations at the University of Panama, told AFP News Agency.
The audit results were announced hours before US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegses arrived in Panama and visited the canal with President Jose Raul Murino.
Flores denied that the release of the report had a connection to the visit.