A senior Panamanian official on Monday said he had uncovered evidence of misconduct by a Hong Kong company, a finding that could delay or even scuttle a ports deal that has put China at loggerheads with the United States.
Last month the Hong Kong conglomerate CK Hutchison agreed to sell a business that encompasses 43 ports, including two in Panama, to a group led by BlackRock, a large American asset manager, for $19 billion. President Trump has said China has too much control over Panama, and the deal was seen by some policy analysts as mitigating to some of his concerns. China, which has exercised tight control of Hong Kong since 2020, has strongly criticized the transaction.
In the latest twist, Panama’s controller general, an independent government official who audits public finances, said CK Hutchison had not properly renewed its contract to operate the ports in 2021 and owed the government $300 million in fees.
The controller, Anel Flores, said he would file a complaint with the prosecutor’s office and added that it was up to the government agency that awards port concessions to determine whether the contract with CK Hutchison was illegal.
Mr. Flores’s actions could delay the deal for the two ports significantly.
“The longer you drag this out, the greater the opportunity for China to meddle in the transaction,” said Benjamin Gedan, a Latin America expert who lectures at Johns Hopkins.
Panama’s government could ultimately decide to take the ports away from CK Hutchison, Mr. Gedan said, and invite bids for the rights to operate them.
BlackRock declined to comment on the controller’s actions. At a meeting held by the Economic Club of New York on Monday, Larry Fink, BlackRock’s chief executive, was asked whether he would do the deal without the Panamanian ports. “It’s going to be reviewed as one transaction,” he said, “as of the moment.”
CK Hutchison did not respond to a request for comment.
Mr. Trump hailed the deal when he told Congress in March that his administration would be “reclaiming the Panama Canal.”
CK Hutchison obtained the port concessions in1997 and renewed the contract in 2021 for 25 years. Mr. Flores, the controller, said his office, then led by someone else, had not approved the renewal.
Mr. Flores announced in January that he was auditing the agreement with CK Hutchison as Mr. Trump took office. Panama’s government has pushed back against Mr. Trump’s assertions that the Panama Canal belongs to the United States or that it is controlled by China.
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