'Accidental millionaires' have fled NZ: cops

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'Accidental millionaires' have fled NZ: cops

By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

Last Updated: 22nd May 2009, 1:00pm

WELLINGTON, New Zealand — Authorities in New Zealand say a businessman and his girlfriend have fled the country with millions in cash after being accidentally given a $6.1-million line of credit by a bank.

Police say an international search is under way for the couple, who may have fled to Hong Kong or China after making off with more than a third of the money.

Police have not identified the pair.

But the New Zealand news media and the mother of the girlfriend have identified them as Leo Gao and Kara Yang, who are reportedly travelling with Yang’s seven-year-old daughter.

The mother, Sue Hurring, described the situation as “stupid, bizarre,” and described her daughter as “honest” in a television plea for her to come home.

Detective Senior Sgt. David Harvey said Interpol was investigating in Hong Kong and was also working with officials in Beijing to track down the couple, who ran a gas station in the North Island city of Rotorua.

Westpac Bank said in a statement Friday that the couple, had a credit limit of 100,000 New Zealand dollars (US$61,000) to run the gas station.

In formalizing the couple’s limit, the bank accidentally opened a line of credit for US$6.1 million, the statement said. Initial details from the bank indicated that money had actually been deposited into their account.

An account holder then tried to transfer about $4 million out of the account, but the bank was able recover $1.7 million, the bank said. The statement did not specify how it got the money back.

“Westpac is continuing to vigorously pursue the outstanding amount,” the bank said.

Companies Office records list Gao and another person as owners of the gas station, which police said filed for bankruptcy protection this month.

Westpac says it considers the money to have been stolen but conceded it was human error at the bank that made the couple accidental millionaires.

Hurring, a hairdresser in the South Island town of Blenheim, pleaded Friday for her daughter to stop running. “Just come home now; it will be OK,” she told the TV3 network.