"Alright, Manager Lin, let's begin the questioning. We'll be recording the entire process," said Liu Ming.
"Wait, excuse me for interrupting," Rosa interjected with a smile, addressing the opposite side. "Lin Qiang was recently promoted to outlet director. Your form of address hasn't caught up with the changes."
Liu Ming was taken aback, feeling slightly embarrassed. He suddenly realized he might have said something wrong. According to the materials at hand, Lin Qiang was only the former team leader of the financing department at the Financial Street branch... There was no mention of Lin Qiang's current position.
"Just call me Lin Qiang," Lin Qiang nodded to the other side.
"Oh... alright, Lin Qiang," Liu Ming adjusted his glasses awkwardly and began questioning, "From September 2011 until two weeks ago, you worked in the financing department of United Bank's Financial Street branch. What can you tell us about Xinda Real Estate?"
The room fell silent. Liu Ming's direct question immediately put Lin Qiang on the spot.
Beside him sat the mastermind behind his troubles and a regional-level leader. Across from him were the enforcement officers from the Audit Office.
How to approach this matter and to what extent to disclose information were questions that required careful consideration. Thanks to Ling Chen's hint last night, Lin Qiang had ample time to think it through.
"Lin Qiang, just tell the truth," Rosa urged, then smiled at the opposite side. "This young director hasn't experienced such situations before. My apologies."
"It's fine," Liu Ming said, as if trying to help Lin Qiang. "According to the Financial Street branch manager and the current team leader, you should be very familiar with Xinda Real Estate, right?"
Lin Qiang felt another wave of tension.
At the door, Qian Cai had begged him to let him off the hook.
So why, according to Qian's statement, did he suddenly know this company very well?
Qian clearly wanted him to say nothing.
Before Lin Qiang could speak, Rosa interjected, "Team Leader Liu, your questioning technique is quite skillful. Lin Qiang hasn't even started speaking yet, has he?"
"Heh, Director Rosa, this is the second time you've interrupted me, isn't it?" Liu Ming confidently adjusted his glasses and looked at Rosa. "When we from the Audit Office conduct questioning, we have no obligation to allow bank leadership to be present. We've already made a significant concession. I hope you won't intervene too much."
Rosa frowned, leaned back in her chair, and said no more.
Lin Qiang silently took a deep breath. This Liu Ming indeed had quite a presence, which was fitting.
Having made up his mind, Lin Qiang spoke, "As Qian Cai and Nie Xiaofeng said, I do have some understanding of Xinda Real Estate."
"About six months ago, I became the leader of the third team in the financing department, overseeing all companies and loans handled by our team. During breaks from routine business, I would review previous loans one by one, assessing the risk levels of the companies."
"Let me interrupt," Liu Ming asked, "Do you still have the results of your assessments?"
"They should all be in the file cabinet. I left them for the next team leader when I was transferred."
Liu Ming nodded to his colleagues, "Note this down. The previous two didn't mention this."
He then waved his hand, "Please continue."
"According to my personal habit, I classify companies into S, A, B, C, or Z tier..."
Liu Ming asked in surprise, "It goes straight from C to Z?"
Lin Qiang nodded calmly, "Yes, Z-tier means it's a ticking time bomb. We absolutely can't touch it."
"Interesting..." Liu Ming smiled and gestured for Lin Qiang to continue.
"S-tier companies are high-quality enterprises with absolutely no issues. They either have state-owned backgrounds or strong capital and tangible asset bases. These are companies that will definitely be profitable within 5 years and impossible to go bankrupt within 10 years. The risk increases gradually down the tiers. For C-tier companies, we absolutely cannot grant loans without solid asset collateral. Unfortunately, in my assessment, Xinda Real Estate fell into the Z category."
"Oh?" Liu Ming was clearly interested. "How did you determine that?"
"This company has been a long-standing client of the Financial Street branch. Before I joined United Bank, they had already borrowed 150 million yuan. The loan amount gradually increased to 750 million yuan. The first 550 million was approved before I took over as team leader. When reviewing the loan material, I found that Xinda Real Estate used mortgage contracts as collateral, totaling 557 contracts. While it's not unheard of to use non-fixed assets as collateral, it's extremely rare for it to reach a scale of 550 million yuan over consecutive years. So I began to investigate Xinda Real Estate's mortgage repayment records and discovered frequent gaps. They would only repay a portion after each additional loan was granted, which strongly suggested they were using new loans to repay old ones."
Liu Ming affirmed this: "Yes, we also noticed this anomaly when reviewing the Jijing Office's financial data."
Lin Qiang continued, "After that, I thoroughly examined Xinda Real Estate's financial statements and collateral contracts. I found many suspicious points and confirmed that this company was extremely dangerous. Considering that this company was one of China's Top 500 Enterprises, I didn't make a big fuss about it. Instead, I consulted my then-supervisor Qian Cai, requesting to recall these loans."
"Oh?!" Liu Ming put down his arms and asked in surprise, "Are you sure about this? The previous two didn't mention it at all!"
"What?!" Lin Qiang was even more shocked. He stood up excitedly and said, "Impossible! Many people in the bank know about this. It's possible that Qian Cai wouldn't admit it, but Nie Xiaofeng definitely knows. He even helped me photocopy many of the materials at the time!"
Liu Ming's expression changed instantly. He raised his hand and said, "Alright, you continue. We'll investigate these specific matters further. Such conflicts are common in investigations."
"Lin Qiang, is this necessary?" Rosa glanced at him and said, "Everyone knows you and Qian Cai don't get along. You shouldn't be using the Audit Office's investigation for your own purposes."
Lin Qiang frowned and glanced at Rosa.
"Lin Qiang, please continue," Deputy General Manager Chen said impassively, waving his hand at Lin Qiang.
Seeing the General Manager's reaction, Lin Qiang suppressed his anger and the urge to retort.
The general manager's meaning was clear: if there's a problem, don't air it out in front of outsiders. It would only embarrass the bank.
"Lin Qiang, please continue. Don't let emotions affect you," Liu Ming advised, then turned to Rosa again, "Director Rosa, if you continue to interfere with the investigation, I'll have to ask you to leave."
"Ah... I just can't bear to watch this. Using others as a weapon to attack... it's too disheartening." Rosa's voice choked up as she covered her face and waved her hand, "I won't say anything more. You all can continue."
Lin Qiang witnessed true acting skills. Compared to Rosa, Hao Wei was far inferior.
"Alright, let me emphasize once more: I very clearly brought this matter to Qian Cai's attention, more than once, and many people in the branch know about it," Lin Qiang stressed, then calmed himself and continued, "At the time, Qian Cai said this was a Top 500 enterprise, and the owner was a regular on the wealth list, so there definitely wouldn't be any problems. Two months later, Xinda Real Estate applied for an additional loan. Since our third team was responsible for maintaining this account, the task naturally fell to me. I completely refused this loan at the time. As a branch employee, it's always better to issue more loans for better performance, but I absolutely wouldn't lend to a Z-tier enterprise. This incident caused friction between Qian Cai and me."
"During this period, Zhang Xinda specially invited Qian Cai and me to his private museum collection to view his antiques. He showed us expert appraisal reports, claiming that just one antique was worth several billion yuan, and that Xinda Real Estate would definitely be able to repay the loan. As a financing professional, I'm well aware that antiques cannot be used as collateral. I continued to refuse the loan, which further deepened the conflict with Qian Cai."
Finally, Lin Qiang spread his arms: "As you can see, I've now been transferred."
Deputy General Manager Chen cleared his throat: "Lin Qiang, a transfer is a transfer, and conflicts are conflicts. Don't mix them together."
"...Alright." Lin Qiang nodded. General Manager Chen was known as a tough but fair leader, a pillar of the Jijing Office. Lin Qiang was inclined to trust his words.
Liu Ming continued questioning, "What about after that? Were you aware of the loan being granted later?"
"Yes, someone told me it was approved," Lin Qiang shook his head, "It's too unfortunate. This was the outcome I least wanted to see."
"I see. We understand the situation you've described," Liu Ming said, gesturing with his fingers. "There are four points that conflict with the accounts of the previous two individuals."
"First, you say you brought up the company's risk issues with Qian Cai, but the previous two didn't mention this."
"Second, you say you refused the loan at the time, but according to the other two, it was Qian Cai who refused, and you were actually pushing hard for this loan."
"Third, Qian Cai also mentioned the visit to Zhang Xinda's private museum. According to his account, you and Zhang Xinda had a personal relationship, and that visit was aimed at persuading Qian Cai to approve the loan, but he refused."
"Fourth, according to Nie Xiaofeng, when the urgent loan process was initiated, due to time constraints and his recent takeover of the work, with Qian Cai away on a business trip, he called you to ask about Xinda Real Estate's situation. He says you strongly endorsed it. He specifically mentioned that out of respect for you and trust in his former superior, he completely believed your opinion, which led to this grave mistake."
...
"???????????" Lin Qiang was dumbfounded.
"How can they be so shameless?!!" He stood up, slamming the table. "Call Qian Cai back here! I'll sort this out with him face to face!"
"Lin Qiang, calm down," General Manager Chen also stood up and reprimanded, "What kind of behavior is this!"
"..."
The conference room fell completely silent, with only the sound of Lin Qiang's heavy breathing.
"Lin Qiang, don't worry. We will investigate thoroughly," Liu Ming closed his notebook and stood up. "Let's end this preliminary inquiry here. The investigation team will officially station at your bank soon. We apologize for the inconvenience."
"Not at all. This is the consequence of our inadequate supervision," Deputy Chen bowed slightly in apology. "We will also conduct a serious internal review and cooperate fully with the investigation."
After Liu Ming's assistant removed the camera, he addressed everyone:
"We'll be leaving now. We officially start working here the day after tomorrow, and we expect to use this conference room for about two weeks."
After seeing off the Audit Office team, Lin Qiang remained in a state between shock and anger.
He couldn't believe Qian Cai could be so shameless, and Nie Xiaofeng, whom he had trusted, had the audacity to blatantly distort the truth like this!
Rosa crossed her legs and casually asked Lin Qiang, "Little Lin, how's Zheng Shuai doing working with you?"
Seeing that Lin Qiang didn't respond, she waved her ring-covered fingers in front of him: "What's wrong? Say something. Are you stunned?"
"Come on, a real man should take responsibility for his actions. Everyone else is saying the same thing, what more do you want?" she added.