Becoming a Russian Oligarch After Rebirth
Chapter 848 - 825 Finance Budget

Chapter 848: Chapter 825 Finance Budget

After bantering with the cunning old fox Grezlov for a long time, Wang Ye still couldn’t pry any reliable information.

He also knew that either Grezlov was telling the truth, in which case he would get nothing more by asking,

or if Grezlov was hoodwinking him, he certainly wouldn’t reveal his true intentions to him.

Continuing the conversation would have been a sheer waste of time, so Wang Ye sat for a while before getting up to take his leave.

He had a pile of things to deal with on his end and couldn’t afford to keep beating around the bush here.

As he escorted Wang Ye out of the office, Grezlov offhandedly mentioned, "You shouldn’t overthink it. It’s normal for personnel to move between factions, but no matter which faction they go to, some people’s stances never change."

Wang Ye’s step faltered. Clearly, there was a hidden message in those words...

However, he didn’t say anything more, smiling as he bid farewell to Grezlov and turned to head back to his own office.

Grezlov stood at the door of his office, watching Wang Ye’s figure disappear at the end of the corridor, pondering who-knows-what until he finally shook his head and turned to go back inside.

......

Because he was doubtful, Wang Ye instructed Rossiyana to take down the names of all the members who came over from other factions.

They were all to be registered, kept in contact with, but promised no conditions.

After all, they were only expressing their intention to join for now; actually coming over would have to wait until before next year’s election.

Especially those incumbent Duma Members, they surely couldn’t resign their positions now and defect to his side.

But without resigning their positions, they couldn’t go through the procedure to withdraw from their faction!

This was one of the rules, with the purpose of preventing the situation where some congressmen might exploit the resources of one faction or ride on its name to win an election, only to defect to another faction later.

Perusing the list collated by Rossiyana, Wang Ye’s expression fluctuated.

If these people were sincerely coming over, then in next year’s election, his faction could indeed accomplish great things!

Among them were many incumbent congressmen, which indicated that these people had quite solid political foundations, making their chances of getting re-elected better than "newcomers."

If the faction’s support and resources could keep up, getting re-elected would be relatively easy.

However, Wang Ye didn’t want to see his faction gain more seats next year only to end up with numerous small power bases within, just like The first faction...

That would certainly give him a headache!

After all, The first faction had a large number of seats and Puding at the helm, maintaining unity in the overall direction.

But his own faction did not have this advantage. What use would having more Duma seats be if he couldn’t maintain control?

After much consideration, Wang Ye still had no better solution and decided to play it by ear.

......

Wang Ye also hadn’t forgotten about the matter he had promised Nalan Yaqi, about either acquiring or building a new top luxury mall.

He had already instructed Polar Bear Investment company to assemble a professional team to scout for suitable malls in Moscow for acquisition.

If that didn’t work out, acquiring a piece of land to build on themselves was also an option!

In 2003, Moscow didn’t have many top luxury brands, and there wasn’t a top luxury mall in the strictest sense.

Some luxury brands were scattered around Red Square, even the most upscale underground mall of the time didn’t house many top luxury brands.

After all, Russia’s economy was poor at that time, and though some oligarchs were rolling in money, most of them lived abroad and shopped in places like London, Milan, and New York.

Creating a mall concentrated with top luxury brands might not necessarily be profitable...

Of course, this was based on Russia’s economy in 2003.

But Wang Ye knew that Russia’s economy was about to soar!

With the end of the worldwide economic crisis and the rise of Asia’s economy, energy prices were to skyrocket.

From 2004 to 2014 would be Russia’s "Golden Age" of economy, with a GDP growth rate that wouldn’t be inferior to that of an Asian country...

So when Nalan Yaqi mentioned setting up a top luxury mall, Wang Ye didn’t refuse.

The Polar Bear Investment team was very efficient, producing a detailed survey report within just a few days and providing professional advice.

According to their survey, none of Moscow’s malls had the potential to become a top luxury mall.

For example, Gum Mall, being the largest with an excellent location, seemed like a good choice.

Unfortunately, the overall structure of that mall was not suitable for top-tier luxury goods, lacking enough large stores.

Furthermore, the mall was quite special, as it didn’t allow any reconstructions or expansions.

Luxury brand stores, once established, require extensive space and high-specification decorations that embody their brand characteristics.

This is a huge difference from ordinary brands.

If a mall can’t offer ample space and allows no customization, brands would rather not settle there.

Therefore, Gum Mall was excluded from consideration.

The other well-known malls each had their own issues. In summation, the survey report recommended that buying a parcel of land to build a high-end mall was the best choice.

As for the location, that was simple. After all, there was plenty of vacant land in the city of Moscow, and acquiring land, unless in an extremely prime location, was quite easy.