Panama’s sweeping financial audit of CK Hutchison Holdings’ decades-long canal concession could provide the embattled Hong Kong conglomerate with an “acceptable” justification for relinquishing its ports in the country, international relations experts have said.
But they said questions remained about how the audit would affect the rest of a US$23 billion ports deal between tycoon Li Ka-shing’s conglomerate and a consortium led by US investment firm BlackRock.
Some argued there was no “risk-free” exit for the Hong Kong company now that it was under pressure from three sides.
Anel Flores, Panama’s comptroller general, presented the results of the sweeping financial audit on Tuesday, in which he accused CK Hutchison of depriving the country of more than US$1.3 billion through the decades-old port concession.
He also described the concession as being “negotiated against the republic”.
His team also said it found evidence of accounting irregularities and the use of phantom companies linked to CK Hutchison’s Panama Ports Company.
