I'm back in 1990

Chapter 576: It Can't Be Hidden Anymore

Hong Yongze remained expressionless, but his heart was in his throat: "What's going on?"

At this moment, Team Leader Zhao's eyes became somewhat complicated: "After a detailed investigation, we found that there were no records of Professor Huang withdrawing funds from any of the projects he handled, including the vertical and horizontal funding he received from the university as the project leader, as well as other projects he participated in."

After taking a breath, Team Leader Zhao continued in a more emphasizing tone, "Moreover, all the actual expenses incurred for the research projects that exceeded the school's budget, including the purchase of domestic and international journals, computer servers, travel expenses, conferences, student labor fees, and assistance in paying for students' paper publication fees, have all been confirmed by us to have been paid from Professor Huang's personal account after tracing the funds."

Upon hearing this, Hong Yongze felt much more at ease. Only his junior brother could have done something like this, so he asked, "So, according to you, you investigated for a month and found that Professor Huang not only didn't use a single penny of the school's money, but he actually put money out of his own pocket?"

Team Leader Zhao nodded gravely, his eyes filled with confusion and embarrassment: "Yes, and the amount is quite large! According to the statistics, in the past few years, he has personally spent a total of 1.27 million yuan on research on related economic topics. In other words, Professor Huang has been using his own money all along, without touching a single penny of the school's funds."

Team Leader Zhao remained silent for a few seconds, seemingly trying to process this seemingly surprising fact. However, he also frankly admitted, "This is fundamentally contradictory to the anonymous report we initially received."

Hearing this, Hong Yongze really wanted to laugh, but he couldn't, as that would only embarrass Team Leader Zhao even more. However, he felt a bit of schadenfreude, knowing that the investigation team was now in a difficult situation.

However, he wouldn't feel comfortable if he didn't say something, so he deliberately brought up something: "There's something you probably don't know, Team Leader Zhao, right? A few years ago, UBS offered Professor Huang a $600 million annual salary, and he refused without even thinking about it, haha!"

Upon hearing Hong Yongze mention this matter, Team Leader Zhao's face darkened even further.

The investigation team's work did not stop there; instead, the discovery led them to even deeper levels. Soon after, a report on Huang Xiaochuan's personal assets was delivered to Team Leader Zhao by a young auditor with a pale face on a sweltering afternoon. The door to the small meeting remained closed for a long time.

After carefully reviewing the asset report, Team Leader Zhao did not dare to delay and immediately returned to the department to report to the main leaders. The leaders were first surprised, and then they all felt a toothache. What should they do?

This was the first time they had encountered something like this, and after a meeting, they all agreed to be pragmatic and realistic.

After leaving the hall, Team Leader Zhao's originally serious and rigid face was now filled with confusion. He took the asset report to the office of the university president, and Hong Yongze was also invited over.

The original principal had retired, and the new principal had just been transferred from another school and had not been in office for long. He was not very familiar with Huang Xiaochuan yet. After reading the report, this principal would never forget Huang Xiaochuan, even if he could forget who his wife was.

The principal's fingers trembled slightly, and his expression was one of shock.

The report was then handed to Hong Yongze, who immediately took it and saw that the pages were filled with dense numbers and terms.

This is a detailed statement of a person's main assets. Among them, there are domestic securities accounts and multiple related accounts in Shanghai and Shenzhen stock exchanges, which hold a large number of stocks such as Shenzhen Development Bank, Sichuan Hongqiao, and Shenzhen Technology. There are also records of a large number of original shares released from lock-up. As of the closing price on May 31, 2001, the total value of these stocks and securities was 217 billion yuan.

The personal overseas account (Hong Kong) mainly holds Hong Kong stocks and some US technology stocks. However, due to the sharp decline in US technology stocks, these stocks have shrunk significantly, and their current market value is about US$7000 million, equivalent to about RMB49 billion.

The real estate includes 31 garden villas in the core area of ​​Shanghai (distributed in Jing'an, Huangpu and Xuhui districts), 7 shops on Huaihai Road and Nanjing Road, and 5 shops on Guanqian Street in Suzhou, with a total appraised value of approximately RMB 89 million.

Furthermore, the report also traces Huang Xiaochuan's early investment records. The records show that from 1990 to 1991, with the financial support of his uncle, Huang Xiaochuan purchased monkey stamps, complete sheets of stamps, and some rare stamps on a large scale, making a total profit of over ten million yuan. In 1992, he also purchased a large number of 92 stock subscription certificates (92 Fortune Certificates), with an extremely high success rate. After the new shares were listed, he made a lot of money. Later, he sold these stock subscription certificates to businessmen in Zhejiang Province, cashed out, and left the market. Afterwards, he held a considerable number of stocks. Through years of price increases, stock dividends, and rights issues, his assets multiplied many times over. For specific figures, please refer to the first part of the asset report.

His personal bank accounts (ICBC, ABC, BOC, CCB) held a total of RMB 1300 million in fixed and current deposits, USD 110 million, and HKD 700 million.

Conservative estimates put his personal assets at no less than 9 million yen.

"Nine hundred million?"

Hong Yongze uttered the number in disbelief. He looked up at Team Leader Zhao and the principal, his eyes filled with immense confusion and a sense of absurdity.

"How is this possible?"

It's no wonder Hong Yongze didn't believe it. In an era when the average monthly salary in this country was less than 1,000 yuan, these figures were undoubtedly astronomical. The purchasing power they represented was enough to make even the wildest imaginations pale in comparison.

Hong Yongze even thought that this amount of money could buy half of the University of Finance and Economics.

However, what he didn't expect was that this small amount of money was just the tip of the iceberg of his junior brother Huang Xiaochuan's enormous wealth. This was only because of the stocks and securities that had been placed under Huang Xiaochuan's personal name in earlier years. Most of his investments were made in the name of offshore companies, which could not be investigated without the help of the state. For example, Hong Kong Dadao Group and Changhong Capital, which is located in the United States. Compared with the above two, Times Supermarket and Guangda Real Estate are relatively insignificant.

Team Leader Zhao smiled wryly, a smile more painful than tears. He took off his black-rimmed glasses and rubbed his temples helplessly: "We repeatedly checked the bank statements, securities transaction records, property registration information, and registration dates. We even went to Engineer Lu's place to talk to some experienced workers. The result is that the source of funds is clear, the transaction chain is complete, and it is completely legal and compliant."

He paused, his tone extremely complex: "He seems to have an almost perfect grasp of every major opportunity in the capital markets. From stamps to warrants to stocks, he steps at the most crucial point every time. It's simply..."

In the end, Team Leader Zhao couldn't find a suitable word to describe it, and could only shake his head in dejection.

Hong Yongze stood to the side, his head buzzing, but he quickly recovered. He knew his young junior brother quite well; his research on economic development trends was unique, and he also had his own insights into some financial phenomena.

It was his prediction that the Southeast Asian financial crisis would affect Hong Kong that led to his warning, which enabled Hong Kong to weather the crisis safely.

Hong Yongze wasn't surprised that Huang Xiaochuan could make money with this ability after thinking about it. What surprised him was that it was too much! It was terrifying! Nine hundred million! If it were converted into cash, it probably wouldn't even fit in this principal's office. Wasn't this just a human money printing machine?

Only today did Hong Yongze gain a new understanding of his junior colleague. However, to put it another way, the allegations in the whistleblower letter were all fabricated, including embezzlement of research funds? How many dollars would an associate professor of economics receive in a year for research funding? You couldn't even get that much money by selling the university!

But then he started to worry about his junior brother. If this explosive news were to leak out, wouldn't the entire Shanghai financial circle and even the whole of China be in an uproar? Now that so many people had been involved, the news was bound to get out.

The principal was also very confused. He had never seen such a genius in the school he was in charge of. He had lived a whole life and this was truly something he had never seen before!

What will happen after this? If reporters find out, they'll probably trample the school gate down.

He couldn't help but look at Hong Yongze and Team Leader Zhao, especially Team Leader Zhao, whose bitter face made the principal furious.