booktalesy Chapter 346 Request for Replacement Parts That Couldn't Be Received
Chapter 346 Request for Replacement Parts That Couldn't Be Received
(Thanks to the amazing "Immortal of Great Void Mountain" for the certification! Two chapters today~)
November 7, 1990. Wednesday.
Osaka, Sumitomo Bank Osaka Main Branch. Financial Services Department.
The anomaly was discovered at 9:18 a.m.
The way he discovered it was very primitive—he made a phone call.
As Deputy Minister, he would call the various service windows within the ministry between 9:00 and 9:30 a.m. to confirm the list of letters of credit in transit that needed to be reviewed this week.
This habit has continued ever since he was promoted to vice minister, and the receptionists at each window have also become familiar with this time—around 9:15, the intercom at Meichang will ring.
When the call reached the fourth window today, the sales representative from Sumitomo Chemical hesitated for a second.
"In the Sumitomo Chemicals case... CT-90118, the technical review rejection notice was sent out last Friday."
"What about the replacement part?"
"...I didn't receive it."
Mei Chang tightened his grip on the microphone.
"What do you mean by 'not received'?"
"They haven't called to ask about the replacement document request." There was a hint of confusion in the salesperson's voice. "In the past, every time a document was returned, Ms. Fujiwara would call to confirm the next day. This time... it's been a week, and there's been no word."
Mei Chang hung up the phone.
He sat in his chair and stared at the calendar on the table for about fifteen seconds. The calendar was turned to the first week of November, with the words "Frost Moon" printed in small print in the upper right corner.
Then he stood up and walked to the window.
The financing department of the Osaka main store is on the sixth floor. The windows face south, offering a view of the tree canopy line of Nakanoshima.
The plane trees in November have almost all shed their leaves, leaving sparse branches that look like cracks casually drawn with charcoal on the gray-white sky.
No replacement parts were provided.
What does this tell us?
If they were to abandon the deal, Murata would send a formal letter of withdrawal through official channels. That's procedure, and Sumitomo Chemical's business planning department couldn't possibly be unaware of it.
However, neither additional documents were provided nor the case was withdrawn.
That means... I don't plan to go down this path anymore.
Umeba felt a chill run down his spine. He turned around, walked to the filing cabinet, opened the second drawer, and pulled out the thin booklet labeled "Saionji Trading Company, Osaka".
It contained only two pages—a summary personally delivered by Yasui in mid-October, including the address, the name of the person in charge, and registration information.
He picked up the phone again and dialed another number.
The person who answered the phone remained silent for a long time. Umeba could hear the other person's fingers tapping on the table, very softly and rhythmically.
"Just to confirm," Yasui said in a low voice. "Regarding Sumitomo Chemical, has Murata recently contacted any other issuing banks?"
"I've already had someone investigate," Umeba said.
"It's not an investigation," Yasui said. "It's an inquiry. We'll directly ask the relevant supervisor in Sumitomo Chemical's Sales Planning Department whether they've recently had any document exchanges with financial institutions in Tokyo."
Mei hesitated for a moment.
What if the other party denies it?
Yasui did not answer.
After nearly twenty seconds of silence, Yasui said, "You ask first. After you ask, no matter how the other party answers, tell Mr. Urakami the result."
The phone hangs up.
Mei Chang stood by the window, clutching the receiver in his hand.
Another sycamore leaf fell from the window, swirling slowly, as if hesitating where to land.
He didn't dial immediately.
Because he had already guessed the answer.
……
2:40 PM.
When Umeba walked out of Sumitomo Chemical's Osaka headquarters, his expression was exactly the same as when he went in.
But his pace quickened.
The supervisor in charge of the sales planning department at Sumitomo Chemicals was a middle-aged man who wore silver-rimmed glasses.
He just spent a full four minutes explaining to him that "all overseas settlements are currently proceeding through the normal process."
Of the four minutes, three were spent using honorifics, and not a single sentence was useful.
What was useful was the man's gaze as he explained. His eyes remained fixed on the area around Mei Chang's tie knot, never moving an inch upwards.
Only those who feel guilty dare not look into each other's eyes.
When Umeba reached the parking lot, he saw a white Toyota minivan parked next to his car. The car was clean, and the rear window was tinted with dark tint, obscuring the interior. He took another look—the license plate was from the Shinagawa series.
Shinagawa, Tokyo.
He got into the car, started the engine, and drove from Sakaisuji towards Kitashinchi.
The car's air conditioning vents were pointing at his face, but he no longer felt cold. His mind was on something else.
SWIFT.
If Saionji Corporation has already sent a letter of credit to DBS Singapore through its cooperating issuing bank, then the transaction will leave a trace in the banking system.
Although SWIFT messages are not something that Sumitomo Bank can directly access.
But the banking industry has never operated solely on formal authority.
Knowing the beneficiary bank, goods, amount, and approximate time, Meichang can piece together a sufficiently accurate picture by leveraging existing relationships with the corresponding bank, insurance company, shipping agent, and in the foreign exchange clearing circle.
He doesn't need to see the message itself.
He only needed to confirm one thing: whether Citibank Tokyo had already shipped the MT700 to DBS Singapore.
If it has already been sent, it will be too late.
If not yet—
His car stopped at a red light at Sakaisuji. The traffic light was mounted high, and the red light shone through the windshield onto the back of his hand. He glanced down at the clock on the dashboard.
2:53 PM.
Singapore is one hour behind Japan; it's 1:53 PM there now.
If MT700 has not yet been issued, he still has the opportunity to exert pressure through internal channels at Sumitomo Chemical to force the other party to withdraw the application.
However, if DBS has already received and completed the notification, the letter of credit is no longer a document that Sumitomo Bank can hold onto.
Two hours left.
He needed to know within two hours whether the message had been sent out or not.
The red light turned green, and he stepped on the gas.
……
On the same day, at 4:10 PM.
When Umeba called Yasui's office, Yasui was flipping through a weekly report from Ito Man.
The weekly report was sent from Hanoi, and it didn't have Ito Man's logo on the cover—it was an internal version that only circulated in the planning department.
"Confirmed." Umeba's voice came through the microphone, sounding a little hoarse. "The confirmation letter from DBS Singapore has been received, and the MT700 has been shipped."
Yasui's finger stopped on the weekly report.
Which bank is issuing the letter of credit?
"Citibank Tokyo branch," Umeba said. "But the applicant is Saionji Trading Co., Ltd. The full amount of US dollar deposit has already been deposited in advance."
MT700.
Yasui's fingertips froze on the paper.
MT700 is the standard message format for "opening a documentary credit" in the SWIFT system.
As long as Citibank Tokyo branch sends a message as the issuing bank, DBS Singapore receives and completes the notification as the advising bank, and the letter of credit terms state that it is irrevocable, Citibank Tokyo legally assumes the obligation to pay according to the documents.
What's even more critical is that what truly supports this letter of credit is not the credit line from Sumitomo Bank.
It's US dollars from Saionji Trading Company.
Sumitomo Chemical's first overseas settlement has already been siphoned off from the Baishuihui's coffers.
"Amount?"
"Two million eight hundred thousand US dollars."
The first stroke.
Yasui closed the report. He looked at the blank space on the cover—the space where Ito Man's company logo should have been printed, but now there was nothing there, like an empty space deliberately left untouched.
"There's one more thing." Mei Chang's voice lowered by half a octave. "The place of issuance of the bill of lading has also changed. It used to be Port Klang, but now it's issued by the shipping company's Singapore agent."
Yasui remained silent.
The place of issuance has changed.
This means that the other party not only bypassed Sumitomo Bank's credit line, but also plugged the loopholes in the legal jurisdiction of this transaction.
It was done very cleanly.
"Who changed it?"
"The shipper cooperated with the changes themselves," Umeba replied. "The accompanying documents list has been replaced with a copy of the bill of lading issued by the shipping company's Singapore agent."
Yasui switched the microphone to his left hand and reached for the cigarette pack on the table with his right. He took out a cigarette but didn't light it.
"Put these together and deliver them to Zhufeng tonight."
"Mr. Urakami?"
"Um."
Yasui hung up the phone.
He sat in the chair, a cigarette dangling from his lips, staring at the ceiling for a long time.
The sky outside the window was already starting to darken. In Osaka in November, just after four o'clock in the afternoon, the horizon began to fade.
The outlines of the buildings in the direction of Nakanoshima were blurred into a blur, with only the red aviation warning lights on the top floor flashing intermittently.
The technical review has failed.
Returning documents, delaying payments, and demanding additional property valuations—these tactics are all predicated on the premise that Sumitomo Chemical's overseas settlements can only be processed through Sumitomo Bank.
Now a new road has been carved out of the passage.
What made Yasui even more uneasy was not the 2.8 million yen.
It's Fujiwara.
A female employee in the sales planning department, who had only been with the company for two years, diligently resubmitted all three returned documents, even replacing the seals, modifying the SWIFT code, and preparing real estate valuation reports—then suddenly stopped. The reason she stopped was that someone had offered her another way.
The path that an ordinary employee can take, so too can the executive director of Sumitomo Chemicals.
The path that the executive director can take, the president of Sumitomo Metal can also take.
Sumitomo Metal can move, Sumitomo Electric can move. Sumitomo Light Metal can move.
The $2.8 million trial order tested a canal. Once the canal was completed, the floodwaters followed.
Yasui put the cigarette back in the cigarette case.
He suddenly didn't want to smoke anymore.