Chen Cheng continued to analyze the data, carefully checking line by line, while i Xiang sat quietly by his side, occasionally pouring him a glass of water or offering him a snack.
The room was very quiet, with only the sound of keyboard typing and mouse clicking, occasionally mixed with their soft whispers.
As ti passed every minute and second, Chen Cheng’s frown deepened.
The data showed that every year, a large amount of niobium ore "disappeared" from the Xingye family’s mines in Brazil, and the quantity increased year by year, reaching an alarming number in the last two years.
"The problem is significant."
Chen Cheng finally broke the silence, "Over the past five years, at least 30% of your family’s niobium ore has been stolen."
"30%..."
i Xiang gasped, the number far beyond her imagination, "How could it be so much?"
"It appears that soone inside your company must be involved in this smuggling case."
Chen Cheng’s tone beca serious, "Moreover, this person holds a high position and is likely to have access to core data."
He pointed to a set of data on the screen and said:
"Look, these records of ore transportation and sales don’t match at all, and after last month, these data were not beautified anymore, but are genuinely mismatched."
i Xiang’s eyebrows were tightly furrowed, suddenly, her complexion turned pale.
"Last month..." she asked uncertainly, "Which day?"
"Starting the 13th."
i Xiang’s mind went blank, she couldn’t believe what she was hearing, and the faces flashing through her mind at that mont were so unfamiliar.
Chen Cheng caught the look of horror on her face out of the corner of his eye, "What did you think of?"
"Last month, the 13th, was the day my father was hospitalized."
Chen Cheng’s pupils suddenly contracted, as all the clues seed to connect at that mont.
Data falsification had been going on for five years, but it abruptly stopped on the 13th of last month, the day Xingye’s father was hospitalized, which was no coincidence.
At that mont, their eyes t, and they seed to understand what had happened.
When Osuke Xingye was alive and in charge, these people still had sothing to fear.
Although so niobium ore was stolen and smuggled, they would still overstate costs and inflate operational expenses as thods to lower the profits on books or even create a false appearance of losses.
This way, they would cover up the fact of smuggling and also explain why the mine was not profitable.
Their excuses varied widely.
Sotis it was that the mining equipnt was aging and needed maintenance, sotis it was that the local governnt had raised taxes, sotis it was natural disasters, sotis even workers’ strikes. In any case, they always found suitable excuses to explain the "losses" of the mine.
However, the sudden hospitalization of Osuke Xingye broke this delicate balance.
Without Osuke Xingye’s deterrence, they stopped beautifying the data, and the true state of losses was exposed.
Even the most basic figures for ore extraction and sales were neglected.
"Could it be Uncle Watanabe?" i Xiang raised the question herself.
Chen Cheng also suspected the man they had just t, but without solid evidence, he couldn’t make a judgnt.
"We need to find evidence," he took a deep breath, "Finding out where the money went might just clear our doubts."
Their gaze returned to the screen, where according to the code written by Chen Cheng, a large part of the later results were financial transaction statistics of the Brazilian Mine.
Chen Cheng arranged the data in chronological order, paying special attention to the changes in the flow of funds before and after Osuke’s hospitalization.
Before the hospitalization, the mine’s cash flow showed losses but was still within a reasonable range, and every expenditure could be accounted for, even if there were elents of overreporting, it wasn’t too outrageous.
However, after the hospitalization, the mine’s cash flow beca like an unrestrained wild horse, with the amount of loss rapidly increasing, and many expense items beca vague and unclear, even including large unidentified transfers.
"Look here," Chen Cheng pointed to a string of numbers on the screen, "Over these last two months, the money from your mine has been going to this Brazilian company—Araguaia Mineração Ltda."
i Xiang was not familiar with financial operations, but seeing the countless zeros, she realized that her family business was being blatantly stolen.
i Xiang leaned closer to the screen, trying to recognize the unfamiliar na. "Araguaia Mineração... I don’t think I’ve heard of this company."
Chen Cheng’s fingers flew quickly over the keyboard, searching for information on this company.
"The registered address is in the State of Pará, it’s a trading company." Chen Cheng browsed the webpage, "It was just registered earlier this year."
He then opened up a file related to contracts, and after so searching, he found the trading contract signed between the mine and this company.
Chen Cheng first located the section for the paynt account, copied down the recipient’s account details, then flipped to the last page, and saw the signatures.
The party represented by Osuke, while the other party was an English na.
This English na was a bit hard to pronounce, Chen Cheng tried reading it according to English phonetic rules, "Kenji Watanabe."
He frowned slightly, "What is this na?"
i Xiang silently mouthed the na on the contract, and in just a second, her pupils enlarged.
"Watanabe Kenji."
Chen Cheng heard the na pronounced in Japanese syllables, "Is it that person we just saw?"
"No, it’s Watanabe Kazuo’s son!" i Xiang looked at Chen Cheng in terror.
"Both father and son, together?!" Chen Cheng found it incredible. They were really audacious.
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