An audit by Panama's comptroller authority into Hong Kong-based CK Hutchinson has found the company has made “many breaches” of its 25-year ports concessions, Bloomberg reports, quoting Comptroller-General Aneel Flores. The audit accuses CK Hutchinson’s subsidiary — Panama Ports — of exploiting tax breaks to evade payments of hundred mns of greenback and failing to secure the needed approvals for its 2021 concession renewals.

What’s next? Flores will file a complaint with prosecutors in the upcoming days over the unpaid concession fees after sending the audit results to Panama’s Maritime Authority.

In context: Panama is under high pressure from the US to push out CK Hutchinson as the US pushes for control of the canal, previously alleging that Panama is permitting China to interfere in the canal. Earlier in February, the US Secretary of State Marco Rubio demanded that Panama curb China’s influence over the high-profile waterway or “ face immediate consequences ” in a sit-down with Panamanian President José Raúl Mulino.

REMEMBER- China’s top antitrust watchdog has blocked Hong Kong-based conglomerate CK Hutchison from selling its two ports in the canal — Balboa and Cristobal ports — to the US investment firm BlackRock. The regulator said it will investigate the transaction’s potential repercussions on fair competition and China’s public interests

The African continent is getting a USD 720 mn AI factory? Pan-African technology firm Cassava Technologies is planning on investing up to USD 720 mn in the continent’s first artificial intelligence (AI) factory — a high-tech data center designed for powering AI applications, Bloomberg reports. The AI factory — set to be built by US-based tech company Nvidia — aims to target university researchers, startups, and developers across several sectors, such as healthcare, fintech, and government.

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