novelraw Chapter 1588 1588
Chapter 1588 1588
Ten minutes later, Song Guanchao hung up the phone.
Governor Li isn't very familiar with Pinghai City.
It's understandable; Pinghai City's economy is average, and everything is quite ordinary, so it's normal not to focus on it.
He specifically asked Governor Li if anything had happened in Pinghai City in recent years, and the reply was no.
Song Guanchao couldn't help but ponder if his judgment was wrong.
Is the news Lin Wanqiu's colleague is investigating unrelated to the local government?
"Knock knock."
Someone knocked on the door.
He thought it was Jiang Yiren or Lin Wanqiu, but when he opened the door, he didn't see anyone, only heard footsteps in the corridor.
He leaned out halfway and saw a figure disappear at the end of the corridor.
An prank?
It's really boring.
Song Guanchao turned back into the room, noticing a letter under his feet.
He picked it up; the envelope was marked with the big word "Report."
Song Guanchao suddenly looked up toward the direction where the silhouette vanished, feeling puzzled.
This is Pinghai City; why would someone send a report letter to me here?
That's really absurd.
Could it have been delivered to the wrong place?
He closed the door, returned to the room, sat down, and opened the envelope, unfolding the paper.
The report content was very brief, so brief it amounted to only a single sentence: Pinghai City officials are corrupt to a severe degree.
A phone number was left below.
This letter was indeed meant for him.
Song Guanchao clicked his tongue, his expression serious.
He didn't immediately dial the number left on it.
He was thinking.
The sender is clearly a local, with a high likelihood of being someone in the local officialdom.
Moreover, they know who he is and have likely researched his background, knowing he has handled similar cases before, judging him trustworthy through his resume, and thus sending the report to him.
As for why they reported to him instead of seeking the local Disciplinary Committee in Pinghai City... It's simple; the content of the report already explains it.
Pinghai City is plagued by severe corruption!
And it's quite severe, so severe that the sender believes there isn't a single trustworthy official in Pinghai City.
Out of desperation, they reported this to an outsider like him.
"Wanqiu's colleague is probably investigating local officials."
Song Guanchao had a vague suspicion.
He picked up his phone and dialed the number left in the report letter.
Ring... ring...
The call got through, but there was silence on the other end.
Song Guanchao asked, "Tell me the situation."
The person on the other end lowered their voice, "Director Song, can I trust you?"
Song Guanchao replied, "If you don't trust me, why report to me?"
The other party was silent for a few seconds before saying, "Pinghai City is like deep water. This case is big, involving more than a hundred officials, including main leaders of the City Committee, Municipal Government, and various District Committees. I don't want to make things difficult for Director Song. Consider whether you want to take this on."
They didn't come right out with the specifics of the case but rather outlined its severity first, allowing Song Guanchao to decide whether or not to get involved.
Song Guanchao's eyelids twitched violently, and he gained a deeper understanding of the content in the report letter.
This is no longer just severe corruption... it's a collapsible kind of corruption!
The case involves over a hundred officials, more severe than the previous Dujiang County corruption incident.
It's hard for him to imagine what kind of situation could lead to such collective corruption?
"Speak."
The person on the other side seemed relieved, possibly because they hadn't expected Song Guanchao to be undaunted by their words and quickly responded.
He organized his thoughts and began narrating.
The matter wasn't complicated; some might say it was quite simple, as the person explained everything clearly within a few minutes.
The City Secretary of Pinghai City is a local, named Xue Heyi. He has served as City Secretary for six years, and aside from the head of the Military District among the standing committee members, the others are all his people.
What he says goes in Pinghai City; all officials must watch his mood, and no one dares defy him.
His absolute power in officialdom also seeped into Pinghai City's business community.
Secretary Xue initially demanded bribes from entrepreneurs and later became dissatisfied with just that, starting to acquire shares from their companies without cash.
He gradually corrupted other officials with the money, building a power group centered around himself within Pinghai City.
In just over three years, this corrupt trend spread across all departments.
In order to extract more money, Xue Heyi established Pinghai City Private Entrepreneurs Association under a relative's name, and each member joining the association must pay a substantial membership fee annually.
Everyone knows the association was founded by Secretary Xue and that Secretary Xue intends to profit from it.
But knowing this doesn't help; they dare not resist and are left to obediently pay up.
This membership fee alone amounts to hundreds of millions annually.
Yet Secretary Xue still isn't satisfied.
He started demanding stakes in more companies, and from those whose shares he already acquired, he demanded a larger share.
Local entrepreneurs dare to be angry but dare not speak out; in Pinghai City, their cries for help go unanswered.
During this time, companies unwilling to hand over shares were suppressed, even persecuted by Secretary Xue.
They were branded with unfounded accusations and thrown into prison.
Or their relatives and friends faced unwarranted disasters.
Besides these money-making schemes, the second-generation officials of Pinghai City were also outrageous, behaving lawlessly.
Every night, they would speed down streets in luxury cars and forcibly take away women they found attractive in bars and night clubs. Some women were even dragged away by the second-generation officials while shopping with their families during the day, and their actions were atrocious!
Later, Secretary Xue felt these second-generation officials were drawing too much attention from above, so he staged an anti-crime operation.
Since then, those second-generation officials didn't act quite so brazen during the day, but such things continued to happen.
According to him, last night's charity gala was actually organized by Secretary Xue to celebrate his daughter's 18th birthday.
The celebrities invited were all those his daughter liked.
Though Song Guanchao had mentally prepared himself, he was still shocked by the person's narration.
Secretary Xue is practically the feudal emperor of Pinghai City!
It's unimaginable that in today's society, there are still officials brazenly engaging in such corruption!
He found it a bit absurd.
Even suspected the person might be exaggerating.
But when he thought of Wanqiu's missing colleague, he felt the probability was high.
Song Guanchao asked, "Do you know a journalist went missing in Pinghai City?"
He asked casually, not expecting the person to really know.
However, after he asked, the person suddenly went silent.
This surprised him, making him realize that the person indeed knew.
"I know," the person said, "I warned Journalist Su to be careful not to probe too deep, but she didn't heed my advice."
Song Guanchao asked, "Where is she now?"
"Pinghai Hotel."