Chapter 11 — Profile 9:17

The prison door closed behind Do Trong Thang, but the shadow of Dinh Phat Group still seemed to cover Saigon. Although the twenty-year prison sentence was a balm to calm public opinion, for Trinh Vu and Le Nhu Van, this victory only had symbolic meaning. The most important part of the verdict - forcing Thang to pay thousands of billions of dong in damages to the State and the families of the victims of the Tan Cang Bridge collapse - is at risk of becoming a waste of paper.

In the first week the enforcement agency conducted asset distraint, a horrifying truth was revealed: The bank accounts in the names of Do Trong Thang and Dinh Phat Group were almost empty. The huge block of real estate that this group owns has actually been mortgaged overlappingly at many different banks, creating huge bad debts that far exceed their actual value.

In the smoke-filled office of the C03 investigation team, Major Tran Binh threw a thick stack of financial documents on the table, his face mixed with fatigue and frustration. "We were one step late. During the three months waiting for trial, Dang Tuan - Dinh Phat's Chief Financial Officer, Thang's right-hand man - quietly dispersed all the cash out of the system. He divided the cash flow, transferred it to dozens of front companies before pumping it into a shell company based in Singapore."

Vu frowned, picked up the file to examine. "Dang Tuan is an old fox in the black financial world. If the money has left Vietnam's borders, requesting international mutual legal assistance to freeze accounts in Singapore will take years, even hopeless because their bank secrecy laws are very strict."

"Not only that," Major Binh sighed. "We just received intelligence that Dang Tuan disappeared from his residence two days ago. He evaporated along with the sweat and tears of hundreds of workers and victims' families."

The air in the room slackened. All their efforts seem to be about to go down the drain if they cannot find that cash flow again.

In the midst of the deadlock, Le Nhu Van, who had been silently flipping through each page of the bank statement provided by Major Binh, suddenly spoke up. "Wait... Something's not right here."

All eyes turned to Van. Since the case was overturned, Van has not only acted as the victim's family, but her knowledge of economics and finance from her unfinished college years has been a great help in sorting out complex documents.

"Everyone, look at this series of transactions," Van spread three statements on the table, using a red pen to circle the numbers. "Cash flows of 50 billion and 100 billion were continuously transferred to a front company in Singapore under the pretext of 'Paying for medical equipment import contracts'. In terms of books, the money did go abroad. But look at the transaction time."

Vu squinted his eyes and looked closely. "The interval between money transfers is very short, only a few hours."

"That's right," Van nodded, her eyes shining with sharpness. "And here's the kicker: Within 48 hours of the money leaving Vietnam, another venture capital firm called the foreign investment fund 'SeaBreeze Holdings' - coincidentally also headquartered in Singapore - disbursed funds of similar value. entering Vietnam in the name of foreign direct investment (FDI).

Major Binh was startled and quickly picked up the statement. "What do you mean... the money wasn't dispersed?"

"It just goes around in a circle to clean up the source," Vu continued, his eyes flashing with admiration for Van. "Dang Tuan clearly knows that keeping cash abroad will lose control if Interpol intervenes. He just used Singapore as a transit station to launder money. After turning into a legal source of FDI capital, that money was returned to Vietnam to invest in a certain real estate project. A very high move!"

"So we just need to find out which project SeaBreeze Holdings is pouring money into in Vietnam!" Major Binh slammed his hand on the table, his face brightening.

It only took less than an hour to look up the national business data system for C03 to find the solution. SeaBreeze Holdings' entire cash flow of thousands of billions of dong is poured into a super coastal eco-resort project called 'Blue Horizon', located on a pristine peninsula in Ba Ria - Vung Tau province. The nominal investor is an anonymous company, but the legal representative is a distant relative of Dang Tuan.

"Vung Tau," Vu mumbled, quickly packing the documents into his briefcase. "Van and I will go down there immediately. A field survey is needed to find the weaknesses of this project before C03 officially decides to blockade."

That afternoon, Vu's car headed toward the sea. The peninsula where the 'Blue Horizon' project is located is completely isolated from the busy tourist area of Vung Tau city. It is a pristine beach, once home to dozens of poor fishermen who have lived on the sea for many generations.

When the car stopped about a kilometer from the project gate, Vu and Van had to walk along a strip of casuarina forest to avoid being detected. The scene before their eyes was a large, sprawling construction site with dozens of tower cranes and hundreds of excavators digging and plowing the ground. Surrounding the hundred-hectare area are towering corrugated iron fences, plastered with posters advertising a future six-star resort paradise. The security force here is large and equipped with electric whips and batons, patrolling continuously like a military barracks.

"They have cleared this entire area," Van lowered his voice, raising his binoculars to observe. "To get a beautiful piece of land like this at a fast speed, Dang Tuan certainly used dirty money to bribe, or threaten to coerce local people with cheap compensation."

Vu pulled out his camera, installed a telephoto lens, and continuously took pictures to record the construction site layout and license plates of dump trucks carrying materials. "This is not just an ordinary money laundering project. With this scale, Dang Tuan wants to build a new kingdom, replacing the collapsed Dinh Phat.

Suddenly, a dog barked fiercely right behind them.

Vu turned back in surprise. A security guard wearing a camouflage uniform, carrying a large German shepherd dog, was standing only about twenty meters away from them. He went around the patrolling casuarina grove and accidentally discovered the two people's hiding place.

"Hey! What are those two doing there? Filming and photography are prohibited here!" The security guard shouted loudly, pulled out the radio to call for reinforcements, and at the same time loosened the dog's leash. The German Shepherd jumped up, bared its fangs and barked madly, preparing to charge.

"Run!" Vu shouted loudly, quickly stuffed the camera into his backpack, grabbed Van's hand tightly and pulled her quickly towards the rugged, rocky beach.

The chase took place extremely quickly and chaotically. The sound of dogs barking gets closer and closer, mixed with the sound of sirens blaring from the construction site. Vu and Van ran for their lives on the quicksand, sharp rocks cutting their legs and drawing blood. But how can their strength compare with a pack of sniffer dogs and guards who are familiar with the terrain?

When pushed close to a cliff reaching out to the sea, the end seemed to be in sight. Behind is the loud footsteps of more than a dozen guards holding weapons, in front are the ocean waves crashing against the reef, creating white foam.

Just as Vu was about to pick up a large log from the sand to protect Van to death, a small whistle rang out from a large crack at the foot of the cliff.

"Get down here! Hurry!" A wailing voice, thick with the timbre of a seafarer, spoke up.

Vu did not hesitate, hugged Van's waist and jumped down the dark crevice of the rock just in time for the German Shepherd to rush to the edge, barking and growling but not daring to jump down because of the slippery slope. Inside the crevice of the rock is a small cave, where an old fisherman with white hair and beard, his skin darkened by the sun and wind, is anchoring an old basket of bottles.

"Stay close to the cliff, don't speak," the old fisherman whispered softly, throwing a fishing net tarp over Vu and Van.

Overhead, the flashlights from the guards flashed across the sea. "Damn, they jumped into the sea! Waves this big will probably expose their bodies. Get out!" An annoyed voice rang out.

After the footsteps of the guards faded away, Vu and Van dared to breathe a sigh of relief and crawl out of the net filled with the smell of rotten fish.

"Thank you... if it weren't for you, I wouldn't know what to do," Van said sincerely, smoothing her sweat-stained hair.

The old fisherman lit a cigarette and looked sadly at the brightly lit construction site in the distance. "I saved you because I saw you taking pictures of them. You are journalists, right? Please bring those pictures to show the whole country what the robbers did to my villagers that day."

The old fisherman recounted the tearful story of the coastal village. Half a year ago, a group of gangsters under the company 'Blue Horizon' came to force people to sign land sale papers for less than one-tenth of the market price. Anyone who refuses to sign will be thrown shrimp paste, have their boat burned, or even be brutally beaten at night. The old fisherman's family was also forced to destroy their house, and now they only know how to use a stone cave and a basket of bottles as a refuge.

"They have a warehouse full of false documents and documents that force people to sign with violence, located right in the temporary blue-painted administration building in the middle of the construction site," the old fisherman took a long drag of his cigarette, pointing towards the bright light. "Every night there are dozens of cars with strange license plates carrying large cartons of paper into and out of that area."

Vu's eyes lit up. If 'Blue Horizon' is really Dang Tuan's money laundering project, then those large cartons most likely contain documents, books recording dirty money flows and false contracts. That is the golden proof that C03 is looking for to close tape this entire project.

He held Van's hand tightly, looking out at the night sky swirling with sea breezes. A drastic counterattack plan began to emerge. This fatal escape did not discourage them, but on the contrary, it led them right to the throat of the monster named Dang Tuan. Tomorrow morning, when dawn comes, this entire money laundering kingdom will collapse under the light of justice.