Chapter 31: Misappropriation of Public Funds

  Wei Shuqin's mother had passed away many years ago, at such a young age, Chen Gong thought, she must have had some incurable disease. "Shuqin, what was your mom suffering from? If it were now, there should be a cure."

  Wei Shuqin shook her head and told Chen Gong the answer. It turned out that her mother was also a government official, and in an early flood relief operation, due to the superior's command error, six comrades lost their lives, and Wei Shuqin's mother was one of them. The leader only expressed work mistakes to the highest leadership of China and mourned the people who sacrificed in this disaster on TV.

  Because of this matter, Wei Chengxu became less and less frequent in his interactions with the relatives on Wei Shuqin's mother's side.

  After listening to Wei Shuqin's outpouring, Chen Gong comforted her for a long time. The two of them then loaded their belongings into the cars and drove back to their home in Nancheng City, each driving one car.

  Today, Wei Chengxu was also at home and wanted to wait for Chen Gong to come and talk to him. After all, he had taken his daughter to the capital city and had a happy time playing together for several days. Moreover, they were not young anymore, and the two of them had been together for five or six years now, so it was also time to discuss marriage.

  Wei Chengxu was concerned about Chen Gong's earthquake monitoring station project, and he had also heard about it in Nancheng, after all, the newspapers were promoting it. Chen Gong also gave Wei Chengxu a detailed report on the whole situation.

  Wei Chengxu actually already knew through Wei Xingbang that Wang Shuai was going to Xin Qiao at the time, "Chen Gong, actually I originally planned to go and give you some support, join in the excitement, but later thought about it again, as the mayor of this southern city, I am not the secretary, the secretary is a standing committee member of the southern province, and now I have nothing to do with Fuhai City, if I went, it would be inappropriate, haha."

  Chen Gong knew that Wei Chengxu still cared about him, and smiled, "Uncle Wei, it's okay, you have the opportunity to officially come to our Xin Qiao for inspection, I also hope that day will come soon, so I'll have a backer again. Now, without a big shot standing behind me, working is tiring."

  Wei Chengxu's expression was always in a state of excitement, "Chen Gong, hurry up, when the time comes, you won't have to be afraid of wolves in front and tigers behind, with Uncle behind your back."

  Wei Shuqin heard what his dad said, and thought to herself: "Dad still doesn't know about Chen Gong's father and grandfather. If he knew, he'd probably faint from fright. And yet he wants to be Chen Gong's guarantor? He's far from being qualified."

  Wei Chengxu asked Chen Gong while eating, "Chen Gong, will you go back to your hometown later or stay in this southern province forever?"

  Chen Gongke hasn't thought about the future yet, but he knows in his heart that no matter what, he'll be wandering around this country, unable to return home if he doesn't make a name for himself. "Uncle Wei, it doesn't matter where I stay, as long as I can be with Shu Qin, wherever I go, she'll follow me. If my prospects are limited, then I'll just settle down in Fuhai or Xin Qiao."

  Wei Chengxu listened and understood Chen Gong's words. "A young man like you, leaving his hometown to work elsewhere is not easy," he said. "Chen Gong, I only have this one daughter, and we're not short of money either. In terms of your career, I'll do my best to help you go further. If you don't like this path, then the two of you can start a business together. I'll provide the capital, but if you lose money, don't expect me to foot the bill."

  Wei Chengxu is a kind elder who doesn't demand that his son-in-law be able to make a big splash, as long as he can get by and live a simple life without too much pressure, the whole family will be happy.

  Chen Gong also felt that this father-in-law was simply speechless, "Uncle, actually I still want to take this path now, I want to do more for the country and the people, whatever corrupt officials I don't care about, there is the Discipline Inspection Commission to manage, but as long as it's an official who has seriously harmed the interests of the masses, I will use all my strength to bring him to justice."

  Wei Chengxu listened and felt that Chen Gong was a bit extreme, "Chen Gong, no matter how high the position you sit in, there is one thing you must know, this is your job, it's the foundation for your living, not a scepter to decide others' life and death. Everything should be done according to law and regulations, do your own job well, don't interfere with things that are not your business."

  Chen Gong agreed verbally to reassure Wei Chengxu, anyway, in the future I went to the judicial organs have can manage, can't go I will find evidence, find people to report, people who do bad things evidence is forever indestructible.

  On the way home, Chen Gong kept thinking that if Wei Chengxu took office as a standing member of the Southern Provincial Committee and Secretary of the Nancheng Municipal Committee, his good days would have arrived. With Wei Chengxu's help, he could at least mix to vice mayor or county magistrate, and then use family forces to develop in the future.

  The earthquake monitoring station on the south side of Xin Bridge is under intense construction, but Chen Gong received a call from Zhang, the director of the Finance Bureau, saying that their Earthquake Bureau had an account discrepancy of about 300,000 yuan two years ago, and it was obvious that someone had embezzled funds. Chen Gong was asked to investigate, find the problem, make up for the money, and come up with a suitable reason, because when reporting to the district leaders, they would be serious.

  Chen Gong felt that Director Zhang was able to get wind of the news through private connections, which made him very angry. Although he had not been the director here for the past two years, he had already been here for more than half a year and now discovered the problem, he would also be accused of dereliction of duty.

  Chen Gong immediately called over Director Xu, asking him to bring the account books for the past three years. At the same time, he muttered to himself that their Seismological Bureau's accounts had always been fine. Oh right, Deng Ju had borrowed 2.8 million yuan before and said he had already paid it back, so there shouldn't be any problems.

  Although the Seismological Bureau was an organization, due to its small size and limited budget, the accounts for the past three years were not thick, and Chen Gong finished reading them carefully in a week.

  The problem has arisen, Chen Gong called Director Xu to confront him.

  Director Xu flipped through Chen Gong's account book, carefully examining the pages with folds. It was Deng Peng's handwriting, stating that several hundred thousand yuan had been repaid on a certain date in a certain year and month. These pages were all about this, and the total amount added up to 2.8 million.

  But there is a problem, these 280,000 are all IOUs, not a single receipt or invoice, in short, no evidence at all, just a few pieces of white paper with black writing.

  Chen Gong looked at Director Xu's expression and thought he had finished reading and also saw the problem, "Director Xu, do you have any explanation? If not, I can only take disciplinary action against you."

  Director Xu was frightened and immediately said, "Yes, yes, there is an explanation. Don't mind my business, Director Chen. It's all about Director Deng. A few years ago, he bought a house and didn't want to take out a loan. He said that the interest would rise in the future, and even with the housing provident fund, it would still be a burden. So he decided to embezzle 280,000 yuan from the bureau in installments, saying he borrowed from relatives and friends and immediately paid it back. Later, I asked Director Deng about it, and he told me that he had already repaid it. As for the specific situation, I don't know."

  "Specifically, you don't know the situation? This specific situation is that these 2.8 million have not been received to this day. You immediately find someone to go and settle accounts with the Finance Bureau. If there really is a problem, come up with a solution for me right away."

  Director Xu attached great importance to it and called two "financial" personnel from the office to rush to the Finance Bureau.

  Director Xu was stunned after checking the accounts with the staff of the Treasury Department, and it turned out that they were short of 280,000 yuan.

  Director Xu immediately contacted Deng Peng on the way back to the bureau, still had to communicate with Director Deng, otherwise this time something went wrong would not be entirely blamed on his head, he was a well-connected person, if not this time playing him to death instead of getting me into trouble, that's not worth it.

  "Director Deng, hello, it's Old Xu here. Ah, I wanted to ask you something, about the 300,000 yuan or so that you borrowed from the unit to buy a house?" Now, the person who actually borrowed the money is Director Deng, and Director Xu feels a bit embarrassed asking this question.

  Deng Peng felt annoyed upon hearing this, as Director Xu had already asked him about it four times. "Director Deng, I've already returned the money, please don't ask me again, my ears are getting calluses from listening to you."

  Director Xu immediately explained that there were no supporting documents attached to their account book, and Deng Peng surprisingly said that it might be a mistake made by the personnel in their office, letting them take responsibility for themselves.

  Director Xu was stunned, minding his own business, helping Deng Peng secretly do something, how did the 280,000 yuan become his own misappropriation? Director Xu also didn't care about offending him. "Oh, okay, Director Deng, as long as it's settled, if the district sends someone to audit in the future, there won't be a problem either. I told the finance people that our accounts are fine, but they all say there's a problem, and I don't care anymore. Alright, that's it, Director Deng, sorry to bother you."

  "Not busy hanging, Director Xu, is it true that someone is investigating our earthquake bureau's expenses?"

  After hearing the absolutely true answer, Deng Peng's heart became heavy. Although the amount of money was not large, it had been several years since he hadn't paid it back, and secondly, he couldn't afford to pay so much now. What to do? "Director Xu, wasn't our Seismological Bureau's funds transaction a large sum this year? You first allocate some money to fill the account, and I'll explain this borrowing matter to the leaders."

  Director Xu can't dare to help Deng Peng again, this time he almost got caught, as the saying goes "those who often walk by the river will inevitably get their shoes wet". Director Xu has made up his mind to draw a clear line in terms of funding. "Deng Bureau, it's not that I don't want to help, but every expense over 2,000 yuan this year needs to be signed off by Director Chen, and I'm powerless to do anything about it. You'd better think of a way to borrow from your relatives quickly, or the problem will become more serious. I have something else to attend to, so I'll hang up now, Deng Bureau."

  Deng Peng was indeed aware of the severity of the problem, and he counted his own savings, which didn't exceed 30,000 yuan. His wife, Fan Cai Xue, might have nearly 200,000 yuan, but how could he ask her for it? At first, he had said that he would pay the full house payment at once to save face, so he took out his reserve funds of 300,000 yuan, but in fact, 280,000 yuan was borrowed.

  This time, if no one helps himself, he's probably not going to make it. The hard-won deputy director position will be ruined. He might as well pick up the phone, "Hey, wife, what do you want to eat for dinner? I'll buy it back."