Anyone got Sherlock Holmes number

Article published: 10:33 AM Friday August 28, 2009 

Hunt for fugitive millionaires "a farce"

The government is being urged to get involved in the hunt in China for a Rotorua couple who fled the country after a banking error left them millions of dollars richer.

Leo Gao and Kara Hurring skipped the country for Hong Kong in May after Westpac credited Gao's account with a $10 million overdraft when he had asked for just $100,000.

Westpac said most of the money had been recovered but $3.8 million was still outstanding.

A young Kara (Cara) Hurring

Rotorua Sensible Sentencing Trust spokesman Peter Bentley says the hunt for them is "a farce" and "ludicrous" because police in China could not legally arrest them. He told Rotorua's Daily Post that if the situation was reversed, the New Zealand government would be "bending over backwards" to help China find someone in New Zealand. "With that much money you have got to be found...if we get so little result from our relationship with the Chinese what does our fair trade agreement mean," he said.

Rotorua Labour list MP Steve Chadwick said the government should press the Chinese to find the pair. Detective Senior Sergeant Tony Colby, of Rotorua police, said a "mutual-assistance" request to the Chinese government was being worked through. "We are not trying to hide anything. There's no wilful lack of action on anyone's part. It's just a process that has taken some time," he said.

Source: ONE News
http://tvnz.co.nz/content/2952851?page=6&pagesize=5