A subsidiary of Hong Kong conglomerate CK Hutchison Holdings has accused Panamanian authorities of undermining due process by making an “unnotified intrusion” at a facility storing materials related to ongoing legal proceedings.
The Panama Ports Company (PPC) on Friday accused the country’s government of creating a crisis, calling the “illegal takeover” of two port facilities in the Panama Canal a failure to comply with “constitutional, contractual and international obligations”.
The former operator of the Balboa and Cristobal ports issued a statement a day after Panamanian media reported that local authorities had searched one of the company’s offices. Boxes of documents were seen being taken away during the raid.
In a ruling last month, the Panamanian Supreme Court declared that a law approving the concession held by PPC was unconstitutional.
The former port operator said on Friday that the company and its investors had strongly emphasised to the Panamanian government their objection to the “illegal takeover” of the ports and the “occupation” of its property, which included seizing “proprietary and legally protected information”.
“PPC also specifically requested the state to establish clear coordination mechanisms regarding access to, custody and protection of its proprietary and privileged information as a private company, including information that is not relevant to the operation of the port operations,” it added.
“Rather than any form of clarification or coordination of protection mechanisms, the State took even more extreme steps to take the property of PPC [on Thursday] through an unnotified intrusion on a private storage facility with proprietary and material subject to legal privilege compiled in the context of ongoing legal proceedings, demonstrating that the state has undermined due process as part of its takeover.”
