Panama auditor recommends legal action over Hutchison contract

Panama’s comptroller has recommended that the country’s government sue civil servants who signed-off the 25-year concession extension to Hutchison-owned Panama Ports Company’s (PPC) right to operate the ports of Balboa and Cristobal, according to this report from Reuters.

The contract was extended in 2021. However, responding to intense political pressure from the US over perceived Chinese influence on the operation of the Panama Canal, the country launched an audit of the PPC contract soon after Donald Trump’s inauguration, and last month ...