Chapter 343: I’ll Find Out Right Now

Chairman Xi Jinping, lost in gloomy thoughts, lit another cigarette.

Chief of the Central Secretariat Zhang Hui and the others, keenly sensing his mood, chose to remain silent so as not to irritate him.

“Fuu...”

After exhaling a stream of smoke into the air, Chairman Xi Jinping addressed Director Li Hunin.

“Is there really no way to recover the slush funds that bastard Liu embezzled?”

“To do that, we need the UBS bank account number, login, and password.”

“Couldn’t he have written the account information down somewhere?”

“There’s a fairly good chance he did.”

Chairman Xi Jinping unconsciously turned his head toward Minister He Lifen.

Minister He Lifen immediately understood what he was implying.

The look in the Chairman’s eyes carried an unmistakable order: search Politburo member Liu Peiqi’s possessions and confiscate them.

Failing to read the intentions of the leadership and pretending not to understand would have amounted to outright dereliction of duty.

“Chairman, please give me a moment.”

Minister He Lifen grabbed his phone and hurried out of the reception room.

Watching his retreating back, Chairman Xi Jinping continued his conversation with Director Li Hunin.

“If we can’t obtain the UBS bank account information, does that mean there’s no way to recover my slush funds?”

“We need to consider several possible scenarios.”

At that moment, Chief of the Central Secretariat Zhang Hui, who had a question, joined the conversation.

“Director Li, couldn’t Liu’s relatives claim the money?”

“If the funds were held by a bank headquartered in our country, they could recover them without too much difficulty. But UBS is headquartered in Switzerland.”

“Don’t speak so vaguely. Get straight to the point.”

“They can recover it, but they would have to overcome far too many obstacles.”

“And what obstacles are those?”

Before Zhang Hui could ask, Chairman Xi Jinping himself spoke.

“First and foremost, they would have to prove that the money actually belongs to Liu.”

“But the money is in his account, isn’t it?”

“That’s true, but what concerns me is Liang Zhenying, the person who transferred the money into that account.”

“Explain exactly what concerns you.”

“The existence of a front account means the money either came from a secret fund or is tied to criminal activity. UBS understands that perfectly well.”

“Suppose we prove to UBS that the money is ‘clean.’ What procedures would remain after that?”

Director Li Hunin was certain that they would never be able to prove that to UBS.

The secret fund Chairman Xi Jinping had lost to Liu amounted to 75.6 billion dollars.

It was an astronomical sum, and proving that such money had been earned legally was simply impossible.

But voicing those thoughts to Chairman Xi Jinping would be like pouring oil on a fire.

“First, Liu’s family would have to file a lawsuit against UBS demanding the return of the money.”

“How long would the lawsuit take?”

“Considering the amount of money held in the UBS account, at least three or four years.”

“Why would it take that long?”

“In Switzerland, laws protecting banking secrecy and the banks themselves are enforced more strictly than anywhere else in the world.”

“Well, then there’s nothing we can do about that. What are the chances that we would win the case?”

“In the best-case scenario, around fifty percent.”

In truth, Director Li Hunin believed their chances of winning were zero.

He only said fifty percent because he did not want to anger Chairman Xi Jinping.

The problem was that Chairman Xi Jinping considered even fifty percent far too low.

“Director Li, why only fifty percent?”

“If UBS wins the lawsuit, the bank stands to make an astronomical profit. So we can be certain that UBS will do everything in its power to win.”

“Yes... I suppose you’re right. By the way, have there ever been cases where someone found themselves in a similar situation?”

“The answer can be found in the fact that dirty money from all over the world flows into Switzerland.”

“And... have there been cases where they won their lawsuits?”

“I’ve never heard of such a precedent.”

“Fuu...”

Feeling his heart grow even heavier, Chairman Xi Jinping once again exhaled a long cloud of cigarette smoke.

Just as he forcefully crushed the cigarette butt into the ashtray, the reception-room door opened and Minister He Lifen entered.

Taking a seat on an empty sofa, he reported to Chairman Xi Jinping.

“I dispatched MSS agents to Liu’s office, his home, and the naval hospital.”

“To the naval hospital as well?”

“His personal belongings were being kept in the naval hospital morgue.”

“What if...”

Chairman Xi Jinping suddenly stopped mid-sentence as though a thought had struck him.

Unable to read his mind, Minister He Lifen and the others merely stared at him in silence.

After thinking for a while, the Chairman finally spoke.

“Minister He, is there any possibility that Vice Chairman Tang stole the UBS account information?”

“Of course, we cannot rule out that possibility, but there is one assumption we would have to make.”

“Go on.”

“For him to do that, he would have needed to know that Liu had embezzled your slush funds.”

“But he interrogated that bastard Liu himself. How could he not have known?”

Knock, knock, knock.

A knock sounded, and a secretary opened the reception-room door, entered, and handed Chairman Xi Jinping a note.

Unfolding the note and reading its contents, the Chairman nodded and instructed the secretary.

“Let him in immediately.”

A moment later, the reception-room door opened and Vice Chairman Tang Guochang entered.

He gave a slight bow to Chairman Xi Jinping, who was seated at the head of the table, then sat down on an empty sofa.

Chairman Xi Jinping immediately apologized to him.

“Vice Chairman Tang, forgive me for bothering you while you’re injured.”

“The bullet only grazed my side, so it hardly hurts at all.”

“Thank you for being so understanding.”

“I’m curious why you summoned me to the reception room rather than ? NоvеIight ? (Original source) your office.”

Chairman Xi Jinping had discovered that Liu had embezzled his secret funds.

Unable to contain his boiling rage, he had completely wrecked his office.

Meeting Vice Chairman Tang Guochang and the others amid the ruins was unthinkable, which was why he had summoned them to the reception room instead.

“I didn’t like the sofa in my office anymore, so I ordered it replaced.”

“Ah, I see.”

“By the way, I summoned Minister He and Director Li because I had some questions for them.”

Vice Chairman Tang Guochang understood perfectly well what was going on.

Chairman Xi Jinping had undoubtedly discovered that Liu had embezzled his secret fund.

And he had summoned Minister He Lifen and Director Li Hunin precisely to find a way to recover the money.

‘I wonder how Chairman Xi will react when he finds out that his secret fund has already made its way into my pocket?’

Vice Chairman Tang Guochang smirked inwardly and continued his conversation with Chairman Xi Jinping.

“I see. Did you get the answers you were looking for?”

“I’ve more or less clarified the situation.”

“That’s very good.”

With those words, Vice Chairman Tang Guochang took a flash drive from his pocket and held it out to Chairman Xi Jinping.

“Vice Chairman Tang, what is this?”

“It contains footage from the surveillance cameras installed in Secretary Zhang’s safe house.”

“There’s no longer any need to watch the surveillance footage.”

“I’m not quite sure what you mean, Chairman.”

“I wanted to watch the recordings to find out what happened between Liu and Secretary Deng. But Zhang has already told me everything.”

Vice Chairman Tang Guochang already knew perfectly well what had happened between Liu and Secretary Deng Zhiping.

However, acting as though he knew would have triggered an enormous scandal.

“Could you tell me what happened between them?”

Chairman Xi Jinping turned his head toward Chief of the Central Secretariat Zhang Hui.

As though reading his thoughts, Zhang Hui immediately began speaking.

“Secretary Deng was managing your slush funds.”

“Is that really true?!”

Of course, Vice Chairman Tang Guochang already knew.

Even so, he feigned utter astonishment in case something unexpected happened.

Fortunately, Chairman Xi Jinping and the others suspected nothing.

“Vice Chairman Tang, you didn’t know?”

“Secretary Deng is known for being tight-lipped. Besides, he and I were never particularly close.”

“Yes... I suppose you’re right. Continue. Liu blackmailed Secretary Deng and forced him to hand over your slush funds.”

“Hmm... I see.”

Something about that struck Chairman Xi Jinping as strange.

The revelation that Liu had embezzled his secret fund was shocking news.

Considering that, Vice Chairman Tang Guochang should have been stunned to his very core.

Yet contrary to expectations, his reaction had been rather restrained.

The Chairman directly asked him why he was so calm.

“To conceal Secretary Zhang’s murder, Liu absolutely had to get rid of Secretary Deng as well. But instead of killing Secretary Deng immediately, he blackmailed him for a long time.”

“Vice Chairman Tang, how do you know that?”

“The surveillance footage shows him blackmailing Secretary Deng.”

“Continue.”

“I thought it was strange as well, but Zhang cleared up my doubts.”

“Ah, then I was mistaken. Forgive me for suspecting you.”

“It’s all right. Will you be able to recover the slush funds Liu embezzled from you?”

Chairman Xi Jinping nodded toward Director Li Hunin, ordering him to answer.

“So far, we have confirmed that the slush funds Liu stole from you passed through HSBC and were transferred to UBS.”

Vice Chairman Tang Guochang knew the route Chairman Xi Jinping’s secret fund had taken all too well.

For now, however, he had to pretend to be completely ignorant.

“What a shame.”

“What do you mean all of a sudden?”

“If I had known that Liu had embezzled your slush funds, I would have forced the UBS account information out of him by any means necessary.”

“Ah, now I understand what you mean.”

“But surely he must have written down the account information somewhere?”

“That’s exactly what we’re searching for right now.”

At that moment, Chief of the Central Secretariat Zhang Hui, as though a question had occurred to him, addressed Vice Chairman Tang Guochang.

“Vice Chairman Tang, where are Liu’s group’s personal belongings being kept?”

“At a People’s Liberation Army safe house.”

“I think the account information may be among Liu’s group’s belongings.”

“That’s certainly possible. Send MSS agents to the safe house as quickly as possible.”

Chief of the Central Secretariat Zhang Hui suspected that Vice Chairman Tang Guochang might have stolen the UBS account information.

To test that possibility, he had asked him the question without warning.

If Tang truly had stolen the information, he would inevitably show at least the slightest reaction.

Yet he remained completely unruffled.

Judging by that, he definitely had not taken the account information.

“Minister He, did you hear what Vice Chairman Tang said?”

“Of course.”

After answering briefly, Minister He Lifen called someone, issued an order, and hung up.

“Chairman, I’ve dispatched MSS agents to the People’s Liberation Army safe house.”

“I hope they manage to find the UBS account information there.”

“As the saying goes, where there’s a will, there’s a way. We’ll definitely find it.”

Vice Chairman Tang Guochang chuckled inwardly.

After all, with the CIA’s help, Chairman Xi Jinping’s secret fund had already safely made its way into his own pocket.

Wanting to fray the Chairman’s nerves a little more, he added a remark to the conversation.

“Chairman, Liu was a cunning and devious man.”

“I know that perfectly well myself, but...”

Vice Chairman Tang Guochang understood exactly why Chairman Xi Jinping had trailed off.

“Liu must have taken measures to prevent the investigators from tracing the money.”

“Are you saying my slush funds may have been transferred from UBS to another bank?”

“I believe the probability is extremely high.”

Looking worried, Chairman Xi Jinping asked Director Li Hunin:

“What do you think of Vice Chairman Tang’s opinion?”

“I believe there is merit to it.”

“Then what are you doing right now?!”

Chairman Xi Jinping’s question carried an unmistakable order to find out where the money had gone.

But Director Li Hunin had no way to carry out that order.

“I’m sorry, but... we don’t have any contacts inside UBS.”

“So what?! Are you saying we’re just sitting here doing nothing and waiting?!”

“N-no, of course not! I’ll find out right now!”

Under Chairman Xi Jinping’s furious reprimand, Director Li Hunin stumbled over his words, stammering badly.