Chapter 1061 - 1059: Auditing the Accounts
When Li Huaishan heard that Tang Yumeng was passing the buck to him again, he felt a bit displeased inside, but didn't dare to show it. After thinking it over, he realized that Tang Yumeng was determined to ensure the villagers got their money today. He cursed Tong Huaiyu and Zhao Bingnan under his breath, "You two bastards, what kind of mess have you put me in? Just wait and see how I deal with you."
"Mr. Tong, how about this: your township is responsible for raising three million, and the county will temporarily cover the rest for you." Li Huaishan, having no other options, said to Tong Huaiyu.
Tong Huaiyu responded, "Secretary Li, I'm afraid there's only a little over three hundred thousand left in the township government accounts. I can't even gather a million, let alone three million."
Over three hundred thousand, upon hearing this, Li Huaishan's face turned green. This was clearly being dumped on him. How did he not realize before that Tong Huaiyu was such a rogue and scoundrel? If he had known earlier, he would have dealt with this long ago.
Though he complained and regretted, even though Li Huaishan was the county secretary, he couldn't just come up with eight million on the spot. After thinking for a long time, he said, "Secretary Tang, how about this: I'll arrange for people to raise funds immediately. Can we first distribute two years' worth? The remaining year's worth, the county guarantees to settle within a week."
Tang Yumeng, seeing that Tong Huaiyu indeed had no money and that Li Huaishan probably could only come up with that much, said, "Fine, let's do as you say. Xiao Xue, notify the village chiefs of the two villages immediately, and have them come to the township to receive the land rental fees."
"Okay, Secretary Tang, I'll notify them right away," Xiao Xue said with a smile.
Li Huaishan stood up, gave Tong Huaiyu a look, and walked out of the conference room. Tong Huaiyu, embarrassed, also stood up and said to Tang Yumeng, "Secretary Tang, I'll step out for a moment."
The conference room only had Tang Yumeng, Luo Guoqing, Zhao Bingnan, and Li Huaishan's secretary left.
Tang Yumeng looked at Zhao Bingnan and said, "Secretary Zhao, please have the financial staff bring over the account records for this money immediately."
Zhao Bingnan agreed, got up, and also left the conference room.
Tang Yumeng then turned to Luo Guoqing and said, "Old Luo, you and Secretary Li should start checking the accounts here. Make sure to find out exactly where this money went."
Li Secretary, who was Li Huaishan's secretary, immediately assured, "Secretary Tang, don't worry, I'll check thoroughly."
After a while, Zhao Bingnan came in with a middle-aged woman and said to Tang Yumeng, "Secretary Tang, this is Xu Shufang, the township accountant. Whatever instructions you have, just tell her."
Tang Yumeng nodded and said, "Comrade Xu Shufang, please bring all the accounts between Tianrui Company and the township for the past three years, and also all accounts regarding the expenditures of this sum of money."
Xu Shufang nodded and left the conference room. A few minutes later, she returned with a large stack of account books.
"Secretary Tang, all the accounts are here," Xu Shufang said, placing the books on the table.
Tang Yumeng acknowledged and let Luo Guoqing and Secretary Li begin checking the accounts.
Xiao Xue went out to call Zheng Dayong, asking him to bring the neighboring village's chief to the township government immediately.
After entering, Tang Yumeng asked her to help the two begin auditing as well.
Li Huaishan was the first to leave. After exiting the township government office building, he waited for Tong Huaiyu at the front gate. Knowing that Li Huaishan was definitely going to scold him, Tong Huaiyu dawdled for a long time before coming out of the office building.
As soon as he got in front of Li Huaishan, without saying a word, Li Huaishan raised his foot and kicked Tong Huaiyu, cursing, "Tong Huaiyu, you bastard, look at the mess you've caused, leaving me to clean up after you. If I had a gun today, I'd shoot you, you son of a bitch."
Li Huaishan was truly enraged, repeatedly using foul language, completely disregarding his identity as the county secretary.
"Secretary Li, how can you blame me? How was I to know Tang Yumeng would launch a surprise attack?" Tong Huaiyu winced from the kick but didn't dare dodge, gritting his teeth as he spoke.
Li Huaishan cursed, "If you've pocketed all that money, even I can't cover for you, you SOB."
Tong Huaiyu pleaded, "Secretary Li, you can't just abandon me. Your son's company borrowed several million."
Li Huaishan was stunned. It took him a while to respond, "You're saying Xiao Hui borrowed several million from you?"
Tong Huaiyu nodded.
At this moment, Li Huaishan was about to faint from anger. Why didn't his son tell him about this? If Tang Yumeng finds out during the investigation, it could spell the end of his career as the county secretary.
"Secretary Li, rest assured, the money Xiao Hui borrowed was accounted for as reception expenses," Tong Huaiyu said.
Li Huaishan looked at Tong Huaiyu and suddenly felt a kind of fear, not fear of Tong Huaiyu, but a psychological fear.
Nowadays, the state is very strict in investigating corruption among officials. Basically, every so often, a large batch of corrupt officials is exposed. If this matter gets uncovered, he would be finished.
Li Huaishan is fifty years old this year, and he can still work for a few more years. Through hard work, he climbed from a small township clerk to where he is today. Before he knew about this incident, he could proudly pat his chest and say that he, Li Huaishan, had absolutely no financial problems.
But now, his precious son actually borrowed several million from the township government without telling him. He glared at Li Huaishan and turned aside to dial his son Xiao Hui's phone number.
Li Huaishan's son, Li Xiaohui, is twenty-seven years old and the chairman of Dragon Brilliance Company.
"Xiao Hui, return the several million you borrowed from XX Township Government immediately." As soon as the call connected, Li Huaishan commanded his son.
Li Xiaohui's voice came over the phone: "Dad, there's no money in the company's accounts right now. What happened? Did something go wrong?"
Li Huaishan angrily responded: "You scoundrel, do you know that Secretary Tang from the city committee is in the township government auditing the accounts right now? I don't care how you do it. Within an hour, get someone to quickly transfer the money back to the township government's account."
After a moment of hesitation, Li Xiaohui said: "Alright, I'll arrange for someone to do it right away."
Hanging up the phone, Li Huaishan finally breathed a sigh of relief. As long as his son could transfer the money back in time, the matter could be covered up, but he seemed to be underestimating the situation.
Through preliminary auditing, Luo Guoqing and his team discovered that from the 8.5 million in funds, aside from over 2 million that was used to build the township government office buildings and more than 300,000 spent on cars, almost the entire remainder was entertainment expenses.
The year before was fine, with entertainment expenses just over 400,000, but last year it suddenly surged to over 2 million, and this year, not even over yet, the entertainment expenses have already reached 2 million.
For a small township government, the entertainment expenses can reach several million a year. It's really shocking when you see it.
When Luo Guoqing reported his preliminary findings to Tang Yumeng, she was shocked. She glared at Zhao Bingnan sitting beside him and asked: "Secretary Zhao, explain to me how a township government can have annual entertainment expenses exceeding 2 million?"
As the head of the township, Zhao Bingnan naturally knew where the money went, but he dared not say. He could only vaguely shift the responsibility to Tong Huaiyu: "Secretary Tang, I'm not very sure about this. You should ask Mr. Tong."
At this time, under Li Huaishan's constant urging, Li Xiaohui had already transferred the 3.3 million borrowed from the township government back to the account. He walked into the office from outside and sat down, followed by Tong Huaiyu, who sat down next to Zhao Bingnan with his head bowed.
"Secretary Tang, I must first self-reflect here." At the door, Li Huaishan heard Tang Yumeng questioning Zhao Bingnan and knew the matter would definitely be uncovered. He aimed to be proactive and clarify the issue: "Regarding the funds in the township, my son, Li Xiaohui, privately borrowed 3.3 million, Secretary Tang. I wasn't aware of this beforehand. I just heard Mr. Tong mention it, and I've ordered him to return all the borrowed money to the township government."
Upon hearing Li Huaishan's words, both Tong Huaiyu and Zhao Bingnan realized that he was trying to clear himself first. They secretly cursed him for being an old fox.
Tang Yumeng was somewhat surprised by the news but after listening to Li Huaishan's explanation, simply smiled faintly and said: "As long as the money is returned, it's fine. Let's not discuss this for now. The village chiefs should be here soon, Secretary Li. What do you think…?"
"Secretary Tang, the money is already in place, let's distribute it now," Li Huaishan quickly said.
Tang Yumeng smiled slightly and asked Xiao Xue to bring in Zheng Dayong and another village chief, who had been waiting outside, and said: "Regarding Tianrui Company's leasing of your village's land, the lease fee is 2,100 per acre per year. Now, we'll distribute the portion withheld by the township. After receiving the funds in your accounts, you two village chiefs need to distribute this money to every villager through the night. Can you do this?"
Zheng Dayong and the other village chief replied in unison: "Yes."
Tang Yumeng then added: "When distributing the money to the villagers, you should personally apologize to them for the delay. Can you manage that?"
"We guarantee to complete the task." The village heads responded firmly.
Tang Yumeng instructed Xu Shufang to begin verifying the amounts with the two village heads while Xiao Xue supervised from the side.
After about an hour, all the funds were verified. Xu Shufang quickly transferred the money into the accounts provided by the two village chiefs.
It was just after four in the afternoon, and the banks hadn't closed yet. Tang Yumeng arranged for Luo Guoqing and Secretary Li to accompany the two village heads to the bank, both for supervision and security reasons.
After handling these matters, Tang Yumeng coldly instructed Tong Huaiyu and Zhao Bingnan: "Temporarily put aside your current work and await examination by the municipal disciplinary committee."
Li Huaishan, glaring at the two, added: "I will arrange for someone to take over your duties later."
As they left the township government, Tang Yumeng said to Li Huaishan: "Secretary Li, I'm going to the village now to visit a volunteer teacher who's been working there for a year. Would you like to come?"