226: Chapter 226 Secretary Dakang, You Still Have a Mine Under Your Butt

Zhao Yang also looked at Secretary Li Dakang, his expression earnest and serious.

Under his gaze, Secretary Li Dakang felt uneasy, thinking it would be a sin not to answer, so he carefully chose his words: "Chief Prosecutor Zhao, the people of Handong Province are indeed quite straightforward, and some are prone to impulsiveness, but that is not true of everyone. I do not know why you have formed such an impression of Handong people?"

Zhao Yang spoke unhurriedly: "The workers of Dafeng Factory want their equity back to become the owners of the factory again, right?"

Secretary Li Dakang frowned: "You can't put it exactly like that; it is forty-nine percent of the equity."

"Then let's say forty-nine percent owners," Zhao Yang continued, "The biggest motivation for the shareholders to fight for the equity is that the land has appreciated in value, rising from tens of millions to one billion, right?"

Secretary Li Dakang nodded and sighed: "Yes, wealth moves people's hearts."

Zhao Yang, however, looked puzzled: "I actually think they are just fighting for their pride, not because the land price has increased."

"Huh?" Secretary Li Dakang was stunned for a moment, then laughed, "If not for the land price increase, they wouldn't be fighting so desperately."

"Impossible," Zhao Yang shook his head firmly, "It is just hotheadedness."

Secretary Li Dakang frowned slightly: "Chief Prosecutor Zhao, let's stop arguing for the sake of arguing."

"This is not arguing for the sake of it," Zhao Yang said, enunciating each word, "If it wasn't hotheadedness, why would they insist on grabbing a hot potato?"

Secretary Li Dakang asked in confusion: "A hot potato? Is the land at Dafeng Factory a hot potato? That is a golden nugget worth one billion."

Zhao Yang looked at Secretary Li Dakang with a smile: "A piece of land worth tens of millions suddenly becomes worth one billion, so the land transfer fee would need to be supplemented by over nine hundred million, right? If the workers of Dafeng Factory really take back the equity, will they pay this money or not? Furthermore, according to our investigation at the Procuratorate, Shanshui Group has not paid this money either."

Secretary Li Dakang's small eyes widened, a look of sudden realization dawning on him. After a moment of silence, he suddenly laughed: "I was really muddled! How could I have forgotten about this! Fortunately, Chief Prosecutor Zhao reminded me! In this way, our government has leverage in handling this—if the workers want the equity, they must bear the land transfer fee; if Shanshui Group does not concede, they must pay this money. Chief Prosecutor Zhao, do you think the land usage can be reverted? If it can be restored to industrial land, it will be much easier for our government to handle this."

Zhao Yang shook his head: "We can say that, but it is best not to do it. First, the government's credibility will suffer a second blow; second, the land will eventually need to have its usage changed anyway. If it keeps changing back and forth, the ordinary people will think planning has become child's play."

Secretary Li Dakang nodded subconsciously, then looked at Zhao Yang with some surprise: "Chief Prosecutor Zhao, I think if you were in charge of government work, you would certainly be a capable official."

Zhao Yang smiled: "I dare not accept such praise; you are the professional, Secretary Li. Regarding the Dafeng Factory matter, I still hope it will be led by the Jingzhou City government, and our Procuratorate will cooperate as much as possible. By the way, there is another matter—Shanshui Group claims to have already issued resettlement funds to the laid-off workers. Our Procuratorate will soon retrieve the transaction records of the independent account for these resettlement funds to verify whether the funds have been distributed properly. I hope Secretary Li can help coordinate and have the financial personnel responsible for the account at the city government cooperate with the investigation and explain whether they fulfilled their supervisory responsibilities during the disbursement of the resettlement funds."

Secretary Li Dakang was confused again: "An independent account for resettlement funds? When were resettlement funds ever issued?"

Zhao Yang put on a puzzled expression: "According to our investigation, Shanshui Group claims to have already paid the resettlement funds to the workers of Dafeng Factory. Secretary Li, you are not aware of this?"

Secretary Li Dakang shook his head: "I don't know, perhaps it was handled by Ding Yizhen."

"That doesn't matter," Zhao Yang smiled, "We just need to ask the financial personnel. We are only retrieving the transaction records of that account to see if the funds were distributed properly. Now, Shanshui Group says they were issued, but the workers say they didn't receive them."

"Alright," Secretary Li Dakang replied decisively, "I will give you an answer regarding this matter as soon as possible. Oh, it is already so late; why don't we go out to eat something? My treat."

Zhao Yang smiled: "Let's skip it for today. I still have a video conference with Shanghai in a while. Once the work handover there is settled and I have more time, we can have a proper drink together."

Knowing that Zhao Yang had come in a hurry, Secretary Li Dakang did not insist and politely saw Zhao Yang out. Returning to his office, he picked up the phone and called Sun Liancheng, the mayor of Guangming District where Dafeng Factory is located: "Sun Liancheng, the Provincial Procuratorate wants to retrieve information on the independent account for the Dafeng Factory resettlement funds. Bring the relevant financial personnel to my office tomorrow."

There was silence on the other end of the line; only breathing could be heard.

Secretary Li Dakang frowned: "Sun Liancheng! What are you doing? Speak!"

A somewhat strange voice came from Sun Liancheng over the phone: "Secretary Li, there is no... there is no independent account for resettlement funds. I don't know about this matter."

"What?" Secretary Li Dakang asked in surprise, "Is it that you don't know, or does this account not exist? This question is very important; you had better think carefully before answering."

"It doesn't exist," Sun Liancheng said with a very certain tone, "There is no such resettlement fund account. Shanshui Group did transfer a sum of money into the Dafeng Factory's public account in the name of resettlement funds. But Dafeng Factory owed the bank a lot of money; as soon as the bank saw money in the public account, they directly seized it."

Secretary Li Dakang was instantly furious: "What? Isn't this nonsense? If an independent supervision account is not established for resettlement funds, how can it be called resettlement funds? This regulation came out in 2011; why didn't you execute it?"

"Secretary Li, this matter was solely handled by Ding Yizhen at the time," Sun Liancheng's tone revealed some grievance, "I brought it up at the time, but Ding Yizhen didn't adopt it at all, saying something about handling special cases specially and that following the rules would affect development efficiency. I really had no choice. Or... should I have the district finance department build the independent account first, and see if you can communicate with the bank to transfer this money back into the resettlement fund account?"

"What kind of joke are you making?" Secretary Li Dakang was so angry he wanted to curse, but this matter really couldn't be blamed on Sun Liancheng, and there was nowhere to shift the blame. He gritted his teeth and said, "You have the district finance department set up the account first. Recently, you must appease the workers and also appease the other developers; there must not be any more incidents of developers withdrawing their capital."

"Alright, Secretary Li." Sun Liancheng clearly breathed a sigh of relief on the other end, agreeing very readily.

After hanging up the phone, Secretary Li Dakang sat heavily back in his office chair, thinking to himself that it was a close call.

The irregular operation of the resettlement funds was another major landmine. If this money had been normally distributed to the workers, it would be easier to handle, at most considered a procedural irregularity. But the problem now was that the resettlement funds never reached the workers' hands and were directly seized by the bank—this reeked of a conspiracy.

If it weren't for Zhao Yang specifically pointing this out, he would have had no idea that such a landmine was buried beneath his seat.

"No!" Secretary Li Dakang sat up straight abruptly, the hair on his back standing on end, "Zhao Yang—he knows everything. He knows it all. He came here today to warn me."

Immediately following this, the matter of giving Ouyang Jing performance results also surfaced in his mind, and Secretary Li Dakang's expression became even more grave, "What exactly is Zhao Yang's purpose? Is he showing off, or is he trying to win me over? But he is just a Chief Prosecutor; does he have the qualifications to win over a member of the Provincial Party Standing Committee like me? Or... is it the people behind him?"