WELLINGTON, New Zea Land — A woman who fled to China with her Chinese partner after a banking error deposited millions of dollars in their bank account appeared in a New Zealand court today to face multimillion-dollar theft charges.
Kara Hurring and her then- partner Hui “Leo” Gao disappeared in 2009, two days after a bank mistakenly handed them a credit line of $10 million New Zealand dollars ($6.1 million U.S.) — 100 times their approved limit.
An account holder then tried to transfer about NZ$4 million out of the account, but the bank was able to recover some of it, the bank said at the time. It did not specify how it got the money back.
At the time the pair left, they were dubbed “the accidental millionaires.”
Hurring, 31, and Gao face one charge each of stealing $4.99 million from Westpac Bank in the North Island city of Rotorua on April 24, 2009.
Hurring and Gao also are charged with eight counts each of money laundering of amounts ranging from $266,000 to $368,000.
Gao is still believed to be in China, and New Zealand police said recently they were working with Chinese authorities to track him down.
At the time the credit line mess-up emerged, Westpac said the couple, who ran a gas station in Rotorua — a favorite tourist destination known for its scenery, sparkling lakes and geysers — had the equivalent of a $61,000 credit limit. In formalizing the couple’s limit, the bank accidentally opened a line of credit for $6.1 million. Initial details from the bank indicated that amount had been deposited into their account.
