The Fine

from June 3, 2017

Friday, Mashka, our lawyer Odnoo and I went to the Inspection office to sign paperwork regarding the fine. We had been told the fine would be somewhere around $7,500 to $10,000 USD. I don't know if that sounds like a lot, but we do not have it in the bank. We already lost $5,000 when they confiscated the beans, so we are hurting financially.

This meeting was completely different from the one on Monday when it was just Mashka and I. I do not know what was said, but there was no yelling and body language and tone was pleasant and calm. They were respectful and decent.

Regarding the news report on TV8 (https://www.facebook.com/TelevisionTv8/videos/1962903430605188/) that claimed that UBean was selling cancer causing coffee, they said they never said anything like that and recommended we sue them. They even said they would do a joint press conference at UBean to restore confidence in our product. I find this suspect.

What was explained to me was that the fine was reduced. They checked our business history and found that we practiced honestly, paying our taxes on time, having no past problems with laws. I was commended for my attitude and behavior. They found me humble and mature, I never yelled at them or used bad words. If they only knew it was Christ that kept me from burning their building to the ground. We are being fined 901,335 MNT for the presence of the aflatoxins and 80,000 MNT for the missing kilos. That comes to roughly $410 USD. I rejoice at this significant reduction in fines and praise God in His deliverance from this.

However, I was still irrate. Everyone was trying to convince me that I should be happy and grateful for what the Inspection office had done for us. If a man breaks into my house and kills my family and leaves me alive, should I be grateful to him for not killing me? This whole thing should not have happened. Regardless of the small fine, an injustice was done based on incompetence and ignorance. I told the lawyer that, I do not know if she translated that.

If we wanted our coffee to be tested by another company, they would allow it. But if we would be shipping the coffee by DHL to Hong Kong or Korea, they would insist on us paying for an inspector to travel with the coffee to ensure that nothing was done to the coffee to skew the test. I LOL'd at that.

I do not know what will happen with UBean. We may not have to sell. However, getting beans will be a challenge. Though we can still import, we will not. They warned us that they would be watching us and testing all our coffee in the future. Finding coffee that has less than 4ppb aflatoxins will be difficult. I doubt there is any in the country right now that is under that. My business partner, Erik, knows people that may be able to ship for us and we would buy the coffee from them.

I am trying to look at this as a win, but it is not easy. I feel like I was attacked and violated. The damage was already done between the press conference and the TV news report. I do not know how this will affect business. God still may be closing UBean. I keep asking God, what are you doing?

My recommendation to the board will be to pay the fine and move on with our lives. We still need prayers. Hopefully this is over. There was so much that was put on hold until this was over. I feel like I will be walking on eggshells for awhile.

I want to thank Jean for handling the moving from one apartment to our new apartment while all this was going on. I want to thank everyone for your prayers. People, literally, around the world were praying for this and it feels really good to have that kind of spiritual support.

Chaz