{"id":6923,"date":"2026-02-27T23:58:30","date_gmt":"2026-02-27T23:58:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/foreignnewstoday.com\/?p=6923"},"modified":"2026-02-27T23:58:30","modified_gmt":"2026-02-27T23:58:30","slug":"panama-raids-china-linked-company-after-court-voids-canal-contracts","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/foreignnewstoday.com\/?p=6923","title":{"rendered":"Panama Raids China-Linked Company After Court Voids Canal Contracts"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div>\n<p class=\"subheading\">Officials from Panama\u2019s Prosecutor General\u2019s Office on Thursday raided the offices of Panama Ports Company (PPC), a China-linked organization that up until recently controlled two key ports at the Panama Canal.<\/p>\n<p class=\"a9d-pre\">The raid was part of a probe into allegations that the company deliberately withheld information to the nation\u2019s authorities of its management of the canal ports.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"D-ROS-B1\" class=\"a9d\"\/>\n<figure id=\"M-ROS-B1\" class=\"a9d\"\/>\n<figure id=\"gmxrevmore\" class=\"H\"\/>\n<p>PPC is a subsidiary of Hong Kong-based C.K. Hutchison Holdings, a large company controlled by <a href=\"https:\/\/www.breitbart.com\/asia\/2019\/08\/16\/hong-kong-richest-man-lectures-protesters-to-love-china\/\">pro-communist<\/a> businessman Li Ka-shing. Since 1997, and until recently, PPC controlled two important Panama Canal ports located at opposite ends of the trade route in the provinces of Balboa and Crist\u00f3bal. The key ports handle as much as 40 percent of the canal\u2019s entire traffic.<\/p>\n<p><strong>RELATED VIDEO\u00a0\u2014\u00a0Trump: \u201cWe Built China\u2019s Army\u201d Through Bad Trade Deals:<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" class=\"rumble\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" src=\"https:\/\/rumble.com\/embed\/v73yfzi\/?pub=he97b\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>Following a lawsuit presented by Comptroller General Anel Flores last year, Panama\u2019s Supreme Court ruled in January to declare the contracts that gave PPC control of the two ports\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.breitbart.com\/latin-america\/2026\/01\/30\/panama-declares-china-linked-canal-port-contracts-unconstitutional\/\">unconstitutional<\/a>. The lawsuit stemmed from extensive investigations and audits from both the Comptroller General\u2019s office and Panamanian Attorney General\u2019s office, which found numerous violations of the contract\u2019s terms and irregularities in PPC\u2019s handling of the ports that, according to Flores, caused over $1.2 billion in damages to Panama.<\/p>\n<p class=\"a9d-pre\">The Supreme Court\u2019s ruling went into effect on <a href=\"https:\/\/www.breitbart.com\/national-security\/2026\/02\/24\/panama-takes-control-of-key-canal-ports-following-annulment-of-china-linked-contracts\/\">Monday<\/a>.\u00a0The administration of conservative President Jos\u00e9 Ra\u00fal Mulino immediately acted upon the court\u2019s ruling and ordered the state\u2019s temporary occupation of the two ports, taking administrative and operational control of the facilities as the Panamanian state carries out a transition process towards new port management deals with other private companies.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"D-ROS-B2\" class=\"a9d\"\/>\n<figure id=\"M-ROS-B2\" class=\"a9d\"\/>\n<p>The Panamanian newspaper <em>La Prensa<\/em> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.prensa.com\/judiciales\/fiscalia-realiza-allanamiento-en-unas-oficinas-de-panama-ports-company\/\">reported<\/a>\u00a0that a team of officials from the Prosecutor General\u2019s Office led by prosecutor Azael Samaniego raided three PPC offices located at Panama City\u2019s Terrazas de Albrook shopping mall with the assistance of the National Police\u2019s Judicial Investigation Directorate (DIJ) and Panama\u2019s Maritime Authority (AMP).<\/p>\n<p>According to the newspaper, Prosecutor Samaniego did not disclose specific details but explained that all documentation seized by the officials will remain under the custody of the Public Ministry.\u00a0 The official reportedly explained that there is currently an \u201copen criminal case\u201d under the Criminal Code, but pointed out that to protect the investigation, he cannot specify what the alleged crime is at this stage of the investigation. Unnamed sources confirmed to <em>La Prensa<\/em> that PPC is believed to have withhold information of its operations at the Balboa and Cristob\u00e1l ports.<\/p>\n<p><strong>RELATED VIDEO\u00a0\u2014\u00a0Bessent: \u201cWe Are Taking Back Our Sovereignty\u201d Investing in Rare Earth Minerals Here Instead of China:<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" class=\"rumble\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" src=\"https:\/\/rumble.com\/embed\/v700l6u\/?pub=he97b\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>The newspaper <em>La Estrella de Panama<\/em> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.laestrella.com.pa\/panama\/nacional\/fiscalia-realiza-allanamiento-excepcional-en-tres-oficinas-de-panama-ports-company-FI20288739\">reported<\/a> that it observed personnel from the Prosecutor\u2019s Office \u201cremove boxes\u201d from the offices and placing them in a pickup truck to be taken away from the area.\u00a0<em>La Estrella de Panama<\/em> also confirmed that the raid is linked to allegations that PPC withheld information and detailed that the Panamanian government had never been able to enter the offices before.<\/p>\n<p>According to\u00a0<em>La Estrella de Panama<\/em>, officials from Panama\u2019s Maritime Authority had allegedly requested entry into the offices but PCC refused them in. The company reportedly never submitted financial statements to the country\u2019s authorities and, as such, the Office of the Comptroller General only has estimate of the amount of revenue lost to the state coffers through PPC\u2019s handling of the ports.<\/p>\n<p class=\"a9d-pre\">\u201cAccording to the Comptroller\u2019s Office, the Panamanian government lost approximately $1.3 billion in revenue. However, estimates within the government indicate that the actual loss was three times that amount,\u201d\u00a0<em>La Estrella de Panama\u00a0<\/em>wrote.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"M-ROS-B3\" class=\"a9d adSo\"\/>\n<p>The newspaper pointed out that the raid on PPC\u2019s offices took place on the same day President Mulino revealed during a press conference that he had attempted to meet with PPC\u2019s executives on several occasions but that he only received negative responses.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cFrom several meetings with [PPC] senior executives in New York and Washington, with the aim of finding a solution to this problem, the only thing we found was arrogance,\u201d Mulino reportedly <a href=\"https:\/\/www.laestrella.com.pa\/panama\/nacional\/mulino-sobre-reuniones-con-directivos-de-ppc-lo-que-encontramos-fue-arrogancia-KH20272585\">said<\/a>\u00a0Thursday.<\/p>\n<p>The Panamanian president defended his administration\u2019s actions after the Supreme Court\u2019s ruling in light of PPC\u2019s criticism over the annulment of the contracts, and emphasized, \u201cNo one is going to kick us out of the ports. No one is going to remove us from the ports. They chose the wrong president and government, because here we do what needs to be done.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThat company did whatever it wanted in Panama for decades since it arrived in this country,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>PPC parent company C.K. Hutchison Holdings condemned the annulment of the two canal port contracts, accusing the Supreme Court ruling of being \u201cunlawful\u201d while claiming that the Panamanian government\u2019s actions pose \u201crisks\u201d to the two ports\u2019 operations. The company said that it would consider pursuing local and international legal actions against Panama.<\/p>\n<p class=\"a9d-pre\">Speaking to reporters during a Tuesday press conference, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mfa.gov.cn\/eng\/xw\/fyrbt\/lxjzh\/202602\/t20260224_11862819.html\">said<\/a> that China \u201cwill firmly protect the company\u2019s legitimate and lawful rights and interests.\u201d<\/p>\n<figure id=\"M-ROS-B4\" class=\"a9d adSo\"\/>\n<p>Following the formal annulment of PPC\u2019s contracts \u2014 and to maintain canal port operations during the initial stages of the transition \u2014\u00a0the Panamanian government granted temporarily administration rights of the Balboa port to APM Terminals, a subsidiary of Danish shipping conglomerate Maersk, for a period of 180 days. Similar temporary administrative rights of the Crist\u00f3bal port were granted to TIL Panama, a subsidiary of Geneva-based Mediterranean Shipping Company (MSC).<\/p>\n<p><em>Christian K. Caruzo is a Venezuelan writer and documents life under socialism. You can follow him on Twitter\u00a0<\/em><a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/KalebPrime\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener external\" data-saferedirecturl=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/url?q=https:\/\/twitter.com\/KalebPrime&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1772225160697000&amp;usg=AOvVaw1Zom1UNn4qjStFTNalQHtc\">here<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p><script async src=\"\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><br \/>\n<br \/><br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.breitbart.com\/latin-america\/2026\/02\/27\/panama-raids-china-linked-companys-offices-after-court-nullified-canal-port-contracts\/\">Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Officials from Panama\u2019s Prosecutor General\u2019s Office on Thursday raided the offices of Panama Ports Company (PPC), a China-linked organization that up until recently controlled two key&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":6924,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[46],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6923","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-africa"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/foreignnewstoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6923","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/foreignnewstoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/foreignnewstoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/foreignnewstoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/foreignnewstoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=6923"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/foreignnewstoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6923\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/foreignnewstoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/6924"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/foreignnewstoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=6923"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/foreignnewstoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=6923"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/foreignnewstoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=6923"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}