Chapter 14 — Shrimp Street Without Name

Every quarter, the Southern Food Safety Certification Center publishes its financial report and sponsorship list on the internal page for employees, a mandatory transparent procedure according to the regulations of the international certification organization of which the Center is a member. Hai Yen rarely pays attention to these documents, considering them the work of the accounting department and board of directors, unrelated to the daily professional work of an auditor. But after a warning call from her superiors and the unusual speed of response from the regional testing laboratory, she began to wonder whether there was a financial connection between her organization and the businesses she was auditing.

She spent an evening reviewing all of the Center's public financial reports for the last three years, looking for a list of funding funds and partners supporting the training program to improve the capacity of the inspection team. Most of the grants came from familiar international organizations, but in last year's report, she noticed a new line appearing: "Delta Sustainable Fisheries Development Fund — funding traceability technical training program, 450 million VND."

The name sounds neutral, even positive, exactly the way nonprofit foundations often fund the industry. But her career has taught Hai Yen a habit she will never forget: always look up any organization name that appears in financial records, no matter how harmless it seems. She searched for this fund's registration information on a public portal for non-profit organizations, and after a while of searching, she found a list of the fund's founding council, including three names of businesses contributing capital to establish it.

One of those three names is Ocean Seafood Group.

Hai Yen sat silently in front of the screen, feeling like she had just discovered an invisible thread connecting the organization she trusted and worked for the past four years with the company she was auditing. In essence, a grant of VND 450 million can be completely legal, does not violate any regulations if it is transparent and does not directly affect specific audit decisions. But if Ocean's side, through this intermediary fund, can exert indirect pressure on the Center's leadership, the independence of any report she gives can be questioned, or even completely disabled if the company wants to refute the audit conclusions before the competent authority.

She went through the list of training programs that the foundation had sponsored in the past two years, realizing a detail that made her even more worried: her direct superior, who had called to warn her the day before, had been the main instructor for two training courses sponsored by the foundation, receiving a large teaching fee in addition to her official salary.

That doesn't necessarily mean her superiors were bribed or intentionally biased. Maybe he was completely unaware of the connection between the foundation and Ocean, or knew but did not consider it a problem because the sponsorship was properly disclosed. But the existence of that connection, whether intentional or unintentional, is enough to partly explain his unusually cautious attitude in recent calls, and may even explain the suspiciously quick processing speed of Mr. The regional testing laboratory refused her request for investigation.

She considered for a long time whether to report this discovery to higher levels or not. If she reported, she risked being seen as an internal troublemaker, upsetting her immediate superior, who was still protecting her from outside pressure in his own way. But if she doesn't report it, she will carry a potential conflict of interest throughout the audit process, a weakness that Dai Duong's side can exploit at any time if they discover it before her.

The next morning, she decided to choose a middle path: write an internal memo, not accusing anyone, just pointing out the coincidence of the indirect financial connection between the funding fund and the business being audited, asking the Center to consider appointing a second independent auditor to participate in evaluating the DH-0417 shipment, to ensure absolute objectivity for the final conclusion. This is a professional proposal, difficult to refute in principle, and is also a way for her to protect herself from possible accusations of bias later.

She sent the memo directly to the Center's board of directors, and at the same time sent a backup copy to her immediate superior as a professional courtesy, although she was not sure with what attitude he would receive it.

The response came faster than she expected, but not in the direction she expected. Less than an hour after sending, her superior called her directly, his voice was somewhat harsh in a rare way.

“Yen, what do you mean you sent it straight to the board of directors without talking to me first?”

"I'm sorry because the procedure may not be correct," Hai Yen replied, keeping her voice calm. “But I think this is a sensitive issue that needs to be considered objectively from the highest level, not just at the department level.”

“Do you think I will hide or cover up anything?” His voice was still harsh, but had softened somewhat, as if he was trying to control his true emotions. "I taught those training courses because I was invited, was paid according to regulations, and fully declared to the organization, what's wrong?"

“I'm not saying you're wrong, I just think we need an extra layer of protection for the audit's objectivity, for both you and me,” Hai Yen said, trying to keep her voice moderate. "If the Ocean side discovers this connection in advance and uses it to refute the audit conclusion, the consequences will be much more severe than if we proactively be transparent from now on."

The other end of the line was silent for a long while. When his superior spoke again, his voice was less tense, although still a bit awkward. "Okay. I will present this to the board of directors according to your direction. But Ms. Yen, I hope that next time there is something sensitive related to me, you can discuss it an hour in advance. Don't let me be passive like that in the middle of this morning's briefing."

The call ended, leaving Hai Yen with a feeling of both relief because she had acted according to professional principles and worry because she did not know whether she had just created an unnecessary stressful relationship with the person who had the right to decide whether she could continue to handle this audit or not. But when she looks back at everything that has happened since the day she set foot in the container yard, she understands that, in this journey, absolute transparency with Her own organization is not an option, but a vital condition so that any evidence she later collects can withstand any objections.

On the afternoon of the same day, when Hai Yen was having a late lunch at a popular restaurant near the port, a man about forty-five years old, with a slim figure, wearing a neat business shirt, walked into the restaurant and sat down at the table opposite her without waiting to be invited, the smile on his lips was somewhat forced.

"Miss Yen, can I join the table? The shop is too crowded today." The man said, although there were clearly still a few other empty tables in the restaurant.

Hai Yen looked at him, her intuition told her this was not an accident. “You are?”

"I'm Son, quality manager at Dai Duong. You probably haven't met me in person yet. I usually work in the back factory area and rarely go out to meet customers at the main office." He reached out to shake his hand, the smile remained on his lips but his eyes observed her very carefully, in a way that made Hai Yen immediately remember the name that had haunted her for the past few days.

She shook his hand, trying to maintain the neutral expression of a normal social encounter, even though her heart beat much faster. This is the person behind the identification code TS-04, the person her mother once remembered as a gentle young man who often came to the house to help fix fans, now sitting in front of her with a completely different role.

“Is there anything Mr. Son looking for me for?” she asked bluntly, not wanting to prolong the social drama.

“It's no big deal,” Mr. Son said, his voice still gentle. “I just happened to see you here, wanted to come over to say hello, and also wanted to say something to you in private, outside the scope of official work.” He lowered his voice and glanced around the bar before continuing. "I heard that you are expanding your audit to many other shipments. I just want to advise you, sometimes knowing just enough is better for everyone, including you."

That sentence, gentle but clearly carrying a warning meaning, made Hai Yen immediately understand that this was not a chance meeting, but a signal sent in a calculated way. She looked straight into Mr. Son's eyes, keeping her voice as calm as possible.

“Thank you for your feedback, but my job is to find the full truth, not just the right amount.”

Mr. Son looked at her for a moment, the smile on his lips faded, then he stood up, leaving a bill on the table even though he hadn't ordered anything yet. “Then good luck with your work,” he said, his voice no longer filled with the initial warmth, then left the shop, leaving Hai Yen sitting alone with the feeling of having both directly encountered a part of the truth she was searching for and realizing that, from now on, the other side had also begun to see her as a threat that needed to be dealt with.