Chapter 2993

Seeing Su Xinghui arrive, Xin Jing looked up and said, "Xinghui, what's the matter? You rarely come to find me; is there something important?"

Su Xinghui handed the materials to Xin Jing. She took them with some confusion and began to read. As she read, her expression grew increasingly solemn. After finishing, she looked up and said, "Xinghui, where did you get these materials?"

Su Xinghui said, "That is not important; they were certainly obtained through a reliable channel. Do you know about this matter?"

Xin Jing shook her head and said, "I really don't know much about this."

This was Xin Jing's first time in charge of economic work. Previously, she did not understand much about engineering bidding, and as a Vice Mayor, she could not handle specific tasks. Naturally, she could not detect the tricks played by those below her, which Su Xinghui could understand.

Su Xinghui said, "Now that you know, what do you intend to do?"

Xin Jing said, "I will call Zheng Wu-ping over immediately and ask him face-to-face to see what he has to say."

Zheng Wu-ping was the Deputy Director of the Urban Construction Committee, in charge of construction engineering, which included guiding and supervising the bidding activities for engineering design and construction.

He was the leader in charge of the bidding for the Baozhou City old city renovation project this time, responsible for guiding and supervising the process. Since such major fraudulent behavior had occurred in this bidding activity, he was naturally hard to absolve of blame, which was why Xin Jing wanted to question him in person.

Su Xinghui, however, said, "Xin Jing, don't be hasty. How about this: I think it is necessary to invite a third-party auditing agency to audit this bidding activity. Once we have conclusive evidence, it will be easier to handle."

Upon hearing Su Xinghui's words, Xin Jing immediately felt she had been too impatient. Yes, what was the use of asking face-to-face now? There was no conclusive evidence yet. She nodded and said, "Alright, then who should we invite to conduct the audit?"

Su Xinghui said, "I do have a friend who opened an accounting firm in the capital. He is a trustworthy person with strong professional capabilities. The case of the Yantai Textile Group was audited by his firm."

"The Yantai Textile Group case?" Xin Jing said, "Then this firm must be trustworthy. Very well, let them conduct the audit."

Xin Jing could decide on her own to hire an accounting firm to audit this bidding activity because it was part of her assigned work, and auditing such bidding activities was her authority and a necessity. Thus, the matter was settled.

Su Xinghui returned to his office and called Liu Yunqing. As soon as Liu Yunqing picked up, he said happily, "Mayor Su, how do you have time to call me?"

Su Xinghui laughed, "Manager Liu, you don't remember to call me; only I call you."

Liu Yunqing said, "Mayor Su, I apologize. I have been truly too busy lately, simply overwhelmed."

Su Xinghui said, "What? Business is too good?"

Liu Yunqing said, "Yes, I've taken on many various auditing projects and hired many people, but we still can't keep up."

Su Xinghui said, "That's a good thing. But if you are so busy, I have an auditing project—won't you have no time to do it?"

Liu Yunqing said without hesitation, "Mayor Su, what auditing project do you have? Tell me, and I will go to you tomorrow."

Su Xinghui said, "Do you have the time?"

Liu Yunqing said, "Even if I'm busy, I must do your project, Mayor Su. At worst, I'll put all other projects on hold."

Liu Yunqing knew the gravity of the situation. He knew that since Su Xinghui had called him personally about this, the project must be very important. He had to do it no matter what, otherwise, he would fail Su Xinghui's trust.

Su Xinghui said, "Fine, then thank you, Manager Liu. Bring your people over as soon as possible. I will briefly introduce the situation to you first so you can see how many people you need to arrange."

Su Xinghui introduced the situation to Liu Yunqing. Liu Yunqing asked for some detailed information and then said to Su Xinghui, "Mayor Su, I will bring my people over tomorrow."

The next day, Liu Yunqing brought his team to Baozhou City. This time, he also brought his elite troops—a group of over a dozen people. Since the content of this audit was different from the previous one at Yantai Textile Group, the people he brought were also somewhat different.

After Su Xinghui had Liu Yunqing settle his team at the municipal government guesthouse, he met with Xin Jing together with Liu Yunqing.

On the second day after Liu Yunqing arrived in Baozhou City, his accounting firm accepted the commission from the Baozhou Municipal Government to conduct a third-party audit of the first phase of the Baozhou old city renovation project bidding.

Led by staff sent by Xin Jing, Liu Yunqing's team moved into the Urban Construction Committee and the relevant bidding agency, taking over all bidding documents and the bidders' proposals to audit these materials.

This audit work began very suddenly, and the news had been well-sealed. It wasn't until the accounting firm's people arrived that the staff at the Urban Construction Committee and the bidding agency realized the municipal government was conducting such an audit, which threw them into a panic. What were they to do?

These materials could not withstand an audit, which made them feel very guilty. But with the municipal government's order to fully cooperate with the accounting firm's audit, what could they do? Could they defy the order?

Third-party auditing was not yet very common in government departments at this time; general auditing work was usually completed by the Audit Bureau. However, the Audit Bureau was also a government department, and its staff were all locals of Baozhou, so they could naturally have personal or interest-based relationships, and they were easily influenced by the backgrounds of the parties involved.

Adopting third-party auditing would reduce those drawbacks, which was the reason Su Xinghui chose it. However, his sudden attack left those with guilty consciences in a state of panic, unable to live in peace.