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Panama’s top auditor accused port operator CK Hutchison of wrongdoing, providing a potential path for the  country to wrest control of canal facilities caught in a U.S.-China tug-of-war.

Panama President Jose Raul Mulino denied that his government had granted free passage for U.S. government ships through the Panama Canal.

The Panama Canal is lifting restrictions that caused a global shipping bottleneck as water levels normalize after a severe drought.

The Panama Canal Authority proposed a comprehensive restructuring of its toll system April 1 that would increase rates charged on cargo such as vehicles, oil and gas, and soybeans that cross the waterway as ocean shippers rake in record profits.

The April opening of Panama’s $5.3 billion expanded canal, originally set for 2014, could be delayed further depending on repairs to leaks discovered in the new locks during testing as the waterway ends a year of record shipments, administrator Jorge Quijano said.