Binjiang Police Affairs
Chapter 67 - 63: The Port Authority’s Child

Chapter 67: Chapter 63: The Port Authority’s Child

"Okay."

Director Jiang picked up a stack of lists and reported: "Salted Fish discovered that Shen Rulan, one of the three suspects and the wife of Zhang Asheng, has an unusual relationship with the captain and crew who arrived early to board the ship. To find out what they were really up to, I requested a thorough inspection by the border inspection.

The inspection found nothing suspicious in their personal belongings and no contraband was discovered. The pier management is very strict; smuggling is not possible.

The personal belongings of the captain and six Indian crew members who disembarked also showed nothing suspicious.

The only difference from those who boarded the ship was that they were paid before disembarking, carrying a substantial amount of cash, all in US dollars."

The previous joint operation between Bailong Port Police Station and Linghai Police Station to crack down on the resale of ship tickets was a great success.

Most of the confiscated returns were also handed over to the Bureau, which can arguably be said to be the biggest achievement of the Bureau in the past five years!

However, that case was mainly investigated by Linghai Police Bureau, with Binjiang Port Police Station playing a supporting role.

This case under current analysis is different; it not only involves money, but the Bureau also has full control!

Binjiang Port Police Bureau has such a small jurisdiction; it is tough to achieve notable success.

Director Chen naturally wouldn’t miss this opportunity and asked with a smile, "A substantial amount of cash, how much exactly?"

Director Jiang handed over the list registered at border inspection for foreign sailors entering the country: "The captain had the most, with thirty-nine thousand four hundred and some dollars. The crew had less, ranging from twenty-six thousand to seventeen thousand."

Han Yu thought Director Chen was like an accountant, carefully examining the list and taking notes with a calculator.

"Old Hu, how about your side."

"At about 5:54 PM, we monitored two calls from Zhang Asheng; the first was purchasing tickets through a scalper, and the second seemed to be contacting his brother-in-law in East Sea. The calls were not long, I’ll play them for everyone to hear."

"Let’s hear them quickly."

...

The conversation about buying tickets from a scalper is straightforward.

The call with his brother-in-law was a bit baffling; it seemed they were not looking to exchange foreign exchange certificates with foreign sailors, but instead intended to give their foreign exchange certificates to them!

Director Chen was utterly puzzled.

Zhang Junyan, Director Jiang, Deputy Director Zhou, and others were also baffled.

Recalling the intelligence gathered from a friend working at the bank earlier in the afternoon, Han Yu pondered with his chin resting on his hand. Suddenly, Director Chen asked, "Little Salted Fish, what about your end?"

Han Yu snapped back to reality and hurriedly reported, "Director Chen, after the crew completed the accommodation procedures, Zhang Asheng and Shen Rulan went to see them.

Perhaps the crew who boarded passed on a message; the Indian crew who disembarked didn’t find their approach inappropriate, even inviting them to room 220 for a talk."

"What did they talk about."

"They spoke in English, quite loudly; several guests in the neighboring rooms found it annoying. But my English is not good, I couldn’t understand a word."

"Did they conduct any transaction?"

"No, but my sister went to check under the pretext of delivering fruit and noticed they seemed to be negotiating and also used a calculator and wrote on paper."

Han Yu thought for a moment and then continued: "Before they went back to their room to rest, they approached my sister and said they would return to East Sea early tomorrow morning. Possibly worried about oversleeping, they asked my sister to wake them up at seven in the morning."

"Seeking to exchange foreign exchange certificates with a Mr. Shi, wanting to give the foreign exchange certificates to foreigners, and planning to go to East Sea with the foreigners to exchange the foreign exchange certificates into US dollars—exchanging back and forth, what exactly are they aiming for..."

Director Chen had just voiced his confusion when a police officer knocked and entered, whispered a few words to Director Hu from the Political Security Department, then quickly left the meeting room.

"Old Hu, what’s going on."

"Zhang Asheng just made a call, still to his brother-in-law, asking him to arrange a vehicle to pick them up at Sixteen Piers Pier tomorrow afternoon. They plan to go to the airport with several foreign sailors."

"Is that all?"

"That’s all, the call was very short."

The Bureau handles numerous criminal cases, but monitoring like this was unprecedented.

Director Chen couldn’t help laughing: "Monitoring is a good method; as long as they use the phone, we can keep track of their movements."

Zhang Junyan spoke up: "Director Chen, the idea to monitor came from Salted Fish."

Director Chen smiled and pointed at Han Yu: "Little Salted Fish, you’re good, truly one of our Port Authority’s own."

When did I become a child of the Port Authority? At most, I’m just related to the Port Authority...

Han Yu found it amusing, but Director Chen became serious: "Comrades, I asked the office yesterday to research the legal regulations regarding financial and foreign exchange management."

Although it was our first time dealing with Foreign Exchange Certificate scalping, it was not too complex—just like other speculative activities, it involves buying low and selling high, requiring both buyers and sellers.

The past ten hours have been grueling but we’ve made significant progress.

However, the evidence we currently have is far from sufficient to prove their suspected disruption of the socialist economic order; that is, we’ve only confirmed their purchasing activities, not their sales, and we still don’t know how they profited illegally.

This is indeed a thorny issue.

Zhang Junyan lit a cigarette, took several puffs, and said gravely, "Director Chen, Director Jiang and I discussed this morning and decided to split into two groups—one to continue investigations and gathering evidence at home, and the other to follow them to East Sea to see exactly what they are up to."

Director Chen tapped on the table, reminding them, "Little Salted Fish made it very clear, and the monitored conversations also, that the foreign sailors will head to East Sea tomorrow, and the day after tomorrow at the latest, they’ll fly back to their countries.

That foreign ship will only be docked at the pier for three days, and they’re currently unloading cargo. By tomorrow night, they’ll likely start loading, and once that’s done, they’ll leave. If the involved suspects all leave, how will we proceed with the investigation?"

Director Jiang furrowed his brows, "Time is too tight."

"Three cobblers are better than a Zhuge Liang. Everyone, put your heads together and think hard about what exactly they are up to."

"Exchange Foreign Exchange Certificates with foreign sailors, and the sailors then convert them to US dollars to take away. The exchange rate is fixed, regulated by the People’s Bank. Are they just trying to let the bank make some extra processing fees?"

"What is the current exchange rate for RMB against the US Dollar?"

"..."

Previously, we only considered the suspect’s scalping of Foreign Exchange Certificates and never considered the US dollars, which are far-fetched for ordinary people.

Director Chen asked how RMB is converted to US dollars and nobody really knew, leaving everyone momentarily dumbfounded.

Director Zhang just mentioned the exchange rate, and Han Yu could guess roughly and looked up, "The official rate set by the People’s Bank is 3.7221 RMB for 1 US dollar."

Director Chen was taken aback and asked curiously, "Little Salted Fish, how do you know this?"

"Director Chen, although Director Xu couldn’t come, he treats this case very seriously and has contacted friends working in major banks to study financial and foreign exchange management."

"What did he say?"

"I haven’t had the chance to report to Director Xu yet, but based on what Director Xu found, I can roughly guess what Ye Xingguo and the others are actually trying to do."

Director Chen pressed, "What exactly are they up to?"

The situation Xu Sanye found is quite perplexing, so Han Yu organized his thoughts, tidied up his language, and reported, "Leaders, according to what our Director Xu discovered, the 3.7221 RMB to 1 US dollar is the official exchange rate set by the People’s Bank.

However, due to the tension in national foreign exchange reserves, not every company with the right to import and export can apply for US dollar conversion."

"The state, to strengthen foreign exchange controls, has since last year, frozen the balance of foreign exchange retained by import and export enterprises from 1986 and before on the books.

The foreign exchange difference used last year also needs to be deducted this year. That is to say, despite having foreign exchange deposits, import and export enterprises can’t withdraw them."

Director Chen somewhat understood, "Is foreign exchange that tight?"

"Tighter than imagined. The friend of our Director Xu mentioned that the South Sea just established as a province, and before becoming a province, the foreign exchange was quite limited, yet it enjoyed flexible and beneficial import and export policies like the Shenzhen Special Zone.

To grow the economy, they specifically sent people to provinces like East Guang to buy foreign exchange at high prices, even going door-to-door in Shenzhen and Zhuhai to purchase foreign currencies."

Han Yu took out a small notebook, flipping through it as he continued to report, "Because foreign exchange is so tight, East Guang Province’s foreign exchange allocation center had to align its rate with the black market. Their US dollar adjustment price has risen from 1:5.5 in March to 1:6.7."

Zhang Junyan didn’t expect Xu Sanye, like a true scholar, to understand global affairs without stepping outside, and surprisingly inquired, "Salted Fish, you mean one US dollar could exchange for six yuan and seventy cents RMB!"

"Director Zhang, the 1:6.7 I just mentioned is the adjustment price from East Guang Province’s foreign exchange allocation center, which is essentially the official rate set by East Guang Province to bolster economic development.

It targets the import and export companies in need of foreign exchange, and the adjustable amount is far from satisfying the demand of these companies, meaning not everyone can get it."

Han Yu closed his notebook, adding, "Individuals can’t get it, and probably this year the price surge makes many people feel US dollars are more valuable. Also, many people want to go abroad and can’t go without US dollars, so the black market rate has reached over 1:8, and some places have even reached 1:12 or even 1:13."

Resources like steel and other production materials are supplied according to plan, have negotiable prices, and vary greatly in cost.

Unexpectedly, the official adjustment price for converting one US dollar to RMB and the black market rate differ so much from the official rate set by the People’s Bank.

Director Chen realized this case is more complex than anticipated, closely pressing Han Yu, "Specifically regarding our case then?"

"Director Chen, before discussing their illegal profit method, I think we should first talk about what Foreign Exchange Certificates actually are."

"Go ahead, we indeed need to learn."

"After the reform and opening-up, an increasing number of foreigners and returning overseas Chinese came to our China. However, market supply was tight, and grain, oil, and cloth were still rationed a few years ago.

To meet the needs of these foreign and returning individuals, facilities like the Sailor Club and Friendship Store, foreign-related hotels, and stores were established."

Han Yu took a deep breath, then continued, "But in our China, the circulation of foreign currencies is prohibited. To facilitate foreign guests and returning overseas Chinese in purchasing items in these venues, Foreign Exchange Certificates were issued.

They are negotiable, bearer forms with no loss reporting—essentially, they are money. In the words of financial experts, they’re akin to a privileged currency."