Chapter 227 [The rich are still rich]

In fact, the current ICAC is not the most terrifying one. With the police force and the gang of corrupt officials of the Hong Kong government in the front, Li Wendi is just a small shrimp. The purpose of asking Li Wendi to come back to assist in the investigation is not to convict Li Wendi, but to defeat Xu Shoukun and open up the situation for what happens next.

Li Wendi would naturally not plead guilty easily, and most of the evidence was impossible to exist. At the beginning of doing these things, Li Wendi had already thought about what to do today, but he underestimated the impact of these things on his mood.

He had a premonition: Xu Shoukun was doomed, with almost no chance of recovery. Apart from leaving his hometown, the only thing he could do was to go to Stanley Prison and have a chat with those gangsters.

As for what the ICAC staff said Zhang Yan confessed, Li Wendi didn't believe a word. Zhang Yan seemed stupid, but he was actually smart. If he blamed Li Wendi, what would Zhang Yan get? Doesn't he need to go to Stanley Prison?
Li Wendi is fine, and she can take good care of his family for him, and she can also give him compensation after he is released. If something happens to Li Wendi, everyone will be implicated, so Li Wendi doesn't believe it.

Li Wendi also discovered something. Those people were willing to pay such a high price to induce confessions. It was obvious that they were under a lot of pressure. They should have come from the police force. After all, the main focus of the ICAC is now on the investigation of the police force.

"Are you really related to those things? Last time it was the Godber case, and this time it's the case of the detective chief of Tsim Sha Tsui Police Station." Zhao Wanying asked with a gloomy face. Of course she became suspicious.

Li Wendi sighed. "It's not true that I bribed Xu Shoukun and Ge Bo. But I need their help to do business. I'm also afraid of being held accountable later, so I thought of an aboveboard way of cooperation to gain their support. They are just shareholders who only want dividends and never participate in the management of the company. All the accounts are legal. I have never had any other private transactions with them."

"Then why do you want to cancel the company when the market is booming?" Zhao Wanying is not someone who can be fooled, otherwise she wouldn't be able to be a lawyer.

Li Wendi took the opportunity to shake his head. "I don't know either. It was Xu Shoukun's fault. He told me at the time that he wanted to withdraw his investment and asked me to return all the investment funds to him. You also know that I have several real estate companies, so I don't need this one. In addition, under Xu Shoukun's face, I built my own network of relationships. I don't really need Xu Shoukun anymore, so I cancelled it."

This reason was a bit lame, but in Li Wendi's opinion, a reason that was too perfect would arouse Zhao Wanying's suspicion, as that was a company that could make a lot of profits.

Zhao Wanying nodded thoughtfully. Some things still needed to be investigated.

Due to the stock market crash in 73, the economic crisis caused by the Middle East oil embargo and the Hong Kong government's investigation of listed companies, many companies with bad assets in Hong Kong began to go bankrupt and be liquidated. However, those assets did not flow directly into the market, but were held by financial companies or banks.

As Hong Kong's 'quasi-central bank', HSBC naturally holds the most non-performing and good assets. Under the Hong Kong government's rules, banks cannot directly manage companies and some physical assets. In addition, HSBC needs to recover some funds for emergencies, so it held a new 'bankruptcy auction'.

Under the current complicated situation, no one knows 'when the dawn will come and how long it will take'. People who have funds in their hands naturally dare not act rashly, and some are worried that this is not the lowest point.

The top management of HSBC was well aware of this, so they distributed invitations to the bankruptcy auction on a large scale. Anyone who had ever cooperated with HSBC received an invitation, which was a bit like "casting a wide net to catch fish."

In order to attract more people, HSBC even 'broke the rules' by listing all the auction items and sent them to the guests together with the invitation letters.

This news was given a headline feature in Hong Kong newspapers, casting another shadow over the poor economic environment and making Hong Kong residents hold on to their wallets even more tightly.

Li Wendi also knew that this was not the bottom of the valley, but there were a few things on the list that appealed to him, so he thought that if he went to take a look, he might be able to "get a bargain."

Many Chinese bigwigs attended the HSBC bankruptcy auction in person, such as Cheng Yutong of New World Development, Pao Yugang of Global Shipping, and Chen Zengxi of Hang Lung. The people who attended from British companies were all company executives, and none of them were real big shots.

Seeing this, Li Wendi stepped forward to greet those people. As for those people including Chen Zengxi whom he didn't know, he chose to ignore them.

After all, there are too many tycoons in Hong Kong, and it is impossible for him to know everyone. He can only selectively get to know some people who will be useful in the future.

As usual, the host read an opening speech, and then it was the turn of HSBC CEO Shen Bi to give a speech. After more than half an hour, the bankruptcy auction officially began.

The first item to be auctioned was a blue and white porcelain from the Shunzong period of the Yuan Dynasty. The starting price was 3.8 yuan, which was very cheap.

However, the guests on the scene showed little interest. In the 70s, merchants were indeed not very interested in antiques, especially in today's economic environment.

So, Li Wendi tactfully raised his sign and shouted, "3.8!"

Antiques are indeed not valuable nowadays, but if you keep them until the late 80s or early 90s, their value will increase dozens of times.

So Li Wendi won the first lot with great success, and many people looked at this "first bird".

The next several lots were sold at the reserve price, and the fifth lot was directly unsold. It was a full green bracelet with a starting price of 23. Unfortunately, in the world of Hong Kong Chinese, people pay more or less attention to "feng shui and fortune". Such lots are naturally "bad luck". No one wants to be involved in these things at this time. If it comes true, won't they be the next to go bankrupt?
".The sixth lot is a piece of industrial land with an area of ​​2.4 square feet located in the Kowloon Bay Industrial Park. It can be used to build a 10-story industrial building with a floor area of ​​20 square feet. The starting price is 320 million yuan!"

This is a "good deal" and many real estate developers' eyes are shining. If they build an industrial building and sell it, they can make a profit of at least 300 million (according to the current market price).

"330 million!" Li Wendi was the first to raise the sign. At the same time, he glanced at his colleagues nearby and knew that they were eager to try.

After the bidding reached 380 million, many real estate developers had already begun to give up, as the premium was close to 2%. This price was not worth it for them, because 380 million could buy a lot of good properties, and even an industrial building with a not-so-good location.

The initial competition was simply because Kowloon Bay was in an advantageous location and that it could be a good investment project, considering that the demand for industrial buildings would increase after the economic recovery.

However, when Li Wendi thought he could get the land, Luo Yingshi showed up and snatched it away for 400 million yuan.

There were as many as 63 items in this auction, but Li Wendi did not buy a single item as he had planned. All of them were sold by his peers at higher prices. Of course, those prices were beyond Li Wendi's expectations, and it was obviously not cost-effective to insist on buying them.

However, Li Wendi was relieved that he had bought some antique trinkets at a small price and did not return empty-handed.

(End of this chapter)