The end is almost here!!

Runaway coming home

Article published: 5:30AM Sunday Oct 17, 2010

 
Accidental millionaire Kara Hurring is coming home and plans to be back before Christmas - 18 months after Westpac mistakenly transferred $10 million into her boyfriend's bank account.

When Hurring returns with her daughter Leena, 8, she will have to face up to her part in the banking error that captured the attention of the world.

Hurring and boyfriend Leo Gao left the country just days after the money was mistakenly transferred. Gao had asked for a $100,000 overdraft for his struggling Rotorua service station - and wound up with $10m after a misplaced decimal point.

Westpac managed to scrabble back two-thirds of the cash before Gao and his family moved the remaining $3.8m off-shore and out of reach.

The Herald on Sunday has learned that Hurring left China two weeks ago for Hong Kong. She is believed to have been living in the Guangdong province close to the border. The departure to Hong Kong was intended to be her first step in a return home. Police working on the case refused to comment.

Detective Sergeant Mark Loper had previously said he had been in email and telephone contact with Hurring.

On Friday, Loper would say only that Chinese authorities had refused to process requests to have the couple extradited. "The problem would appear the Chinese don't recognise what they have done as a crime in their eyes."

Yet, while Hurring was beyond the reach of New Zealand law in China, she was unable to return to New Zealand. Her mother Sue Hurring and sisters Aroha and Chloe live in Blenheim, although her mum temporarily moved to the bottom of the South Island after their home was pictured in a local paper.

Aroha was staying tight-lipped about her sister's return yesterday. She said a lot of rumours were going around Blenheim about Kara; where she was and when she was coming home. "It's all bulls***."

Aroha would not say whether she had spoken to Kara recently nor if any of the family had been to China to visit her. "I'm no squeal. The tsunami will come one day, but not yet."

Sue Hurring recently sold her hair salon, Michael Hair Design, and told staff she was going away until the end of the year.

She spoke to the Herald on Sunday by phone last night, saying she'd been "taken for a ride" and badly treated throughout the long saga. She would not discuss her daughter's whereabouts, nor her return home.

But the Herald on Sunday has learned returning has been forced upon Kara because she was unable to lean on Gao for support. The couple separated shortly after arriving in China through Hong Kong and Macau.

It is believed the split forced Hurring to seek support from Andy Yang, her former partner and father of Leena. She had met and fallen pregnant to Yang in New Zealand but he had returned to China.

While she sought out Yang (since married), Gao, his brother Lei (Carter) and mother Huang Di Zhang went their own way into China. It is believed that Gao left Hurring with little of the accidental windfall.

A banking source close to the investigation said Hurring had been seeking a way to safely return to New Zealand "for some time". However, police "weren't prepared to do a deal"and Hurring will face the reality of returning to criminal charges.

By David Fisher NZ Herald
5:30 AM Sunday Oct 17, 2010

Cara coming home...she's coming home she's coming

Runaway contacts police

Article published: 4:00AM Sunday May 23, 2010

Westpac runaway Kara Hurring has contacted the detective in charge of trying to bring her and her daughter back from China. Hurring left the country a year ago with daughter Leena, 9, and partner Leo Gao after a banking error credited their account with a $10 million overdraft.

The couple were long gone by the time Westpac spotted the error. Gao left behind his struggling service station business and debts on property investments. But Hurring has phoned and emailed Detective Senior Sergeant Mark Loper. "She had taken it upon herself to email me and I then received a phone call," said Loper. Loper would not comment on speculation Gao and Hurring had separated, leaving the Blenheim woman and her daughter alone in a country she had never visited before last year.

"She's a long way from home. I gleaned that she was quite happy with her and her daughter's circumstances at the time."

Loper would not disclose the full content of the conversation, which took place just before Christmas. He said there had been a fresh bid for help from Chinese authorities after an unsuccessful application last year. Details released through the Official Information Act show Crown legal staff have spent 28 hours on the case this year. Meanwhile, Gao's former service station has been sold and is being turned into a fish and chip shop. One person involved in the case said a Chinese takeaway might be more appropriate.

Source: NZ Herald 

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10646868

Surprise..Westpac mess up again

Bank error makes man $30,000 richer

Article published: 7:25AM Tuesday May 11, 2010

An Auckland man wants to change banks after a Westpac left him more than $30,000 richer for a short time.

The banking error put $33,408.22 into health care worker Philip Senthi's bank account.

The bank says the mistake was human error and has apologised - but only after being contacted by the New Zealand Herald, the newspaper reported today.

The bank said a staff member had accidentally keyed in Senthi's account number when it should have been another customer's and the mistake had been rectified.

Senthi says he was frustrated with his dealings with Westpac since the incident.

Last year, in another Westpac mistake, Leo Gao, a Chinese national, and his Kiwi girlfriend, Cara Young, applied for a $100,000 overdraft but a bank worker added two zeros to the transaction, giving them $10 million.

The couple disappeared with nearly $4m and are still on the run.

http://tvnz.co.nz/national-news/bank-error-makes-man-30-000-richer-3535967

Shall we stay or shall we go

Article published: 4:00 AM  Wednesday March 31, 2010

Runaway millionaires can't be extradited from China

 

Rotorua's runaway millionaires will have to return voluntarily before any action can be taken against them.

It has been more than 10 months since Leo Gao, 30, and Kara Hurring, 31, fled after being accidentally given $10 million by Westpac.

Detective Senior Sergeant Mark Loper of the Rotorua police said that if the couple were found in China, they could not be extradited to New Zealand as there was no extradition treaty with China.

"They would have to voluntarily come back to New Zealand."

Meanwhile, he confirmed the couple had been in touch with family in New Zealand.

Mr Gao, whose business, Rotorua BP Barnetts, is in receivership, disappeared last May with Ms Hurring, his girlfriend, and her young daughter Leena after a Westpac staff member accidentally allowed a $10 million overdraft on their bank account.

About $6.7 million was withdrawn. The bank has been trying to recover money through court action but $3.8 million remains missing.

Mr Loper would not say how the runaways had been in contact with family in New Zealand and he was not sure of the last time they had made contact. However, he said contact had not been made very often.

He said there had been rumours the pair had separated but he did not know whether that was the case.

Mr Loper said the New Zealand police liaison officer in Beijing was still negotiating with Chinese authorities.

Asked if he was frustrated at how long it was taking to find the pair, Mr Loper said, "No, it's just the way of it", and the case would remain open.

"We are dealing with another country and it will be dealt with in their time, not ours."

Mr Loper said he could not comment on speculation Ms Hurring was likely to escape punishment as she was not a partner in the business the money was placed in.

Ms Hurring's mother, Sue Hurring, who lives in Blenheim, could not be reached for comment.

Source: NZ Herald

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10635458

 

 

End of the line?!

Article published: 4:00 AM  Sunday March 28, 2010

Millionaire runaways urged to come home

The runaway Westpac millionaires have been in touch with family in New Zealand - and been passed messages by police urging them to come home.

It is the first sign of contact with Kara Hurring, 31, and Leo Gao, 30, since they vanished from our shores last May.

But so far the fugitive couple, who fled to China after being accidentally given $10 million by Westpac, have ignored attempts to bring them back to face possible criminal charges.

Detective Sergeant Mark Loper, heading the investigation, said the runaways had made contact with family "on a couple of occasions".

He said: "There have been a number of attempts to get them to come home but obviously that hasn't worked."

Loper said they were aware of reports that the couple had separated, but was unable to confirm if they were accurate.

Police are believed to be relaying messages through Hurring's family in Blenheim.

Hurring fled New Zealand with her 8-year-old daughter Leena and partner Gao after a banking error credited their account with a $10m overdraft.

They managed to keep around $3.8m.

Further attempts to recover the money were foiled when the bank bungled an attempt to recover its losses through the Hong Kong courts.

Police efforts to locate the couple have been affected by repeated stonewalling from the Chinese Government.

Loper said the police liaison officer in Beijing was still "negotiating" with Chinese authorities.

"We've got no jurisdiction over there. It's not like going to Australia to pick up somebody. They do things their way. It's their country, their rules."

Police were unable to trace any contact that the family had with the runaways because "as soon as you hit China, we hit the Chinese authorities".

"We can trace everything back to that point and then [we are] waiting [for] the authority to go further."

He said Chinese police had not even told their New Zealand counterparts whether they had found the runaways.

There has been speculation that Hurring is likely to escape punishment as she was not a partner in the business the money was placed in. Loper said the speculation might not be correct.

Hurring's mother, Sue, refused to comment, saying only that her daughter was responsible for her own life.

In December, the Herald on Sunday revealed that Westpac's efforts to find the couple had targeted Gao's bother Lei Gao and mother Huang Di Zhang. They are also believed to have left New Zealand.

The story so far

* May 7, 2009: Rotorua petrol station owner Leo Gao and Kara Hurring flee to Hong Kong after a banking error credits Gao's account with $10 million. They escape with about $3.8m.

* June 09: Hurring's sister Aroha joins them on an overseas trip.

* December 09: Westpac is forced to pay legal fees to a casino in Macau after losing a court bid to recover money gambled by Gao.

* March 10: The couple contact family in NZ.

Source: Herald on Sunday David Fisher

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10634830&pnum=0

The Story So Far...

Leo Gao is a local business man from New Zealand’s who owned a BP service station along with a number of properties which he let. He and his girlfriend Cara Young and her daugher, lived in Rotorua, a picturesque city in the far North of the North Island. In early 2009 he applied to Westpac Bank for a $NZ100,000 loan presumably to support his business interests. The loan was subsequently approved but a mistake by a bank teller resulted in Leo receiving a 100 times more that the amount he had originally applied for.

The mistake was a simple one, the bank employee had forgotten to enter the decimal point resulting in a transfer of $NZ10,000,000 into Leo’s bank account. His face must have been a picture when he realised the untold riches that were now in sitting in his possession. By all accounts Leo acting quickly by transferring much of the money abroad to various accounts. Amazing the bank did not realise the mistake until a tip off from a member of the public. I can completely understand, it’s a common mistake to miss the fact you missing 10 mil from your coffers. Anyway, the bank suddenly realising their colossal error and went about with hast to reclaim the money. They manage to reclaim around $6.2 million but by this time Leo and Cara had vanished on a flight to Hong Kong and escaped with about $3.8 million. The chase was on.

As a side note, apparently these type of bank errors do occur from time to time. Given the number of loans banks approve each day…although maybe not so many during the recent credit crisis…it’s only a small percentage that go wrong, but it does happen. In most cases the bank will eventually notice the error and claw back the money. The difference in this case is Leo had the balls to take the money and run off with it.

Leo is of Korean origin so the obvious destination for him and Cara who be to head off to somewhere Asia, and he did. Reported sightings to date have included the bright lights and gambling meccas of Hong Kong and Maccau. Not a bad choice at all, if I had all that money I would have probably made a similar choice and head off to Vegas. The police, Westpac, special investigators employed by the bank initially all predicted they would be caught soon but 9 months later they are no closer to catching the fugitives. Excuses have started to appear, investigators held up by paper work with Chinese authorities etc. Those sort of things.

It emerged that Westpac had successfully managed to obtained a Hong Kong court order to freeze nearly HK$4million of money in Wynn Casino that allegedly was Leo’s. However the bank froze the whole of Wynn Casino Hong Kong account and not just the HK$4million!! Unbelievable. This caused Wynn “considerable losses and damaged its reputation” and now they are looking for substantial compenstation, and rightly so. Anyone would be a bit peeved if your whole business bank account was suddenly put on ice!! On top of that Westpac sold some of the mortgage properties owned by Leo to recover some of the lost cash, but had no choice but to sell them at a large loss. The whole episode is certainly proving to be very expensive mistake for Westpac.

The Westpac bank employee was not so lucky. She had 20+ years experience but ended up losing her job, not for this mistake but for another mistake that occurred a few months later. Unfortunately, it seems her card had been already marked.

This blog contains all the latest news, gossips, rumours regarding the great Leo and Cara getaway

Leo's antics hit the New Zealand crazy charts for 2009

Article published: 9:33 AM  Wednesday December 23, 2009 

Kiwis' crazy antics of 2009

A robber who leaves his name and address, a memorial service for a man who isn't dead and a teacher who poses nude for Penthouse just to annoy her cheating boyfriend.

Where else in the world but New Zealand.

Kiwis can always be relied on to produce some of the world's quirkiest, funniest and downright ridiculous news. And 2009 was no exception, especially with the debacle over a misplaced decimal point that handed $10 million cash to an opportunistic Kiwi couple who quickly fled overseas.

Here are the highlights of a wacky year:

.. William Stewart escaped the clutches of police for 100 days. Stewart, a rough and ready Michael Bolton lookalike, seemed to enjoy his status, at one stage stealing a pie from a farm kitchen and engraving a thank you note into the table from "Billy The Hunted One". He was jailed for his antics but not before inspiring a song, a T-shirt range and Facebook fan page.

.. Failed servo owner Leo Gao couldn't believe his eyes when, in April, Westpac accidentally added extra zeros to his overdraft facility . The Chinese New Zealander skipped the country with millions of dollars overnight, taking his girlfriend on a gambling and spending spree across Asia. Unsurprisingly, they haven't been seen since. The bank worker wasn't so lucky, losing her job after the embarrassing glitch.

.. A man vying for the title of New Zealand's most incompetent criminal left his name and contact details with a shop before robbing it and fleeing. The man - a regular customer of the music shop in Christchurch - ordered a CD before grabbing handfuls of banknotes from the till with four surveillance cameras trained on him. "It was totally comical," the store manager said.

.. When Kiwi primary schoolteacher Rachel Whitwell decided to pose nude for Australian Penthouse she wasn't thinking of the fame or the fortune. She just wanted to annoy her cheating boyfriend. But the ploy backfired badly, with saucy pics of Whitwell frolicking in a spa splashed across New Zealand papers, leaving both her career and her relationship in tatters.

.. A deadpan joke about the safety of eating overheated meat pies catapulted a Kiwi cop into internet super-stardom. Policeman Guy Baldwin was captured on camera interviewing a late-night carjacker who was trying to claim he was merely off to buy a meat pie at the local service station. Baldwin's witty reply was: "That pie has probably been in the warming drawer for about 12 hours. It will be thermo-nuclear - always blow on the pie." Unfortunately the young crim didn't get the joke.

.. A beloved family cat had an extra chilly brush with death after his owners accidentally shut him in the freezer for 19 hours . Sarah Crombie found Krillen the cat lying stiff and semi-conscious on a bag of dog food when she went to get a loaf of bread out of the freezer. The moggy, who had slipped into the top-loading freezer unnoticed the night before, was semi-frozen and hypothermic but purred loudly with relief.

.. Meat-flavoured chocolate might not be everyone's idea of delicious, but a Kiwi chocolatier claims her salami-tinged treats are just that. Sweet maker Hanna Frederick developed venison chocolate truffles to feed dozens of meat lovers at New Zealand's Meat Industry Association conference. Made from a blend of dark chocolate and ground-up salty dried meat, the morsels were described as "heavenly", much to the disgust of many.

.. A canine was in the dog box after driving his owner's ute into the front of a cafe . Wilco, a Staffordshire Ridgeback-cross, proved why dogs should never be left alone in a running vehicle when his paw slipped the column gear change into drive. The ute edged forward 15 metres before crunching into the front doors of a cafe, causing thousands of dollars in damage.

.. A man has become so obsessed with seeing his name in print that he lies regularly to get it there. Andrew Prieditis is from small town New Zealand but the self-confessed letter-writing addict has been published in more than 80 newspapers globally . His trick is to supply a false local address and he has no qualms about duping newspapers. "I just love it, seeing my name there," he said by way of explanation.

.. The condolences were sent and the memorial service was planned. The only problem: Peter Claridge wasn't actually dead. The Kiwi man got the shock of a lifetime to hear his death was being mourned throughout his hometown when he was, in fact, alive and kicking. The rumour was started by the town's misinformed and very embarrassed mayor. Claridge didn't mind though, saying he'd been planning to pop along to the commemorations.

.. The recession was responsible for many an oddity in 2009. For one, Kiwi men were more likely than ever to get "the snip" on their most intimate assets as a reaction to the financial squeeze, and prescriptions for contraceptives have also skyrocketed. The big "R" also kept sheep numbers down and sales of sexy lacy underwear sets up, apparently as a cheap thrill in all the doom and gloom.

.. A curious baby seal shuffled more than 100 kilometres across New Zealand farmland after an overexcited fishing expedition. The super-travelling youngster was spotted by a shocked Kiwi farmer early one morning as he trudged his way over to his milking sheds. Unfazed, the animal took a long nap in a paddock before being caught by conservationists and driven back to the ocean.

.. It supported the bare bums of his pub patrons for 15 years and Trev Inwood wants it back . The Kiwi publican offered a $100 bar tab for the return of a plastic toilet seat stolen from his Christchurch tavern in August. Inwood says he was shocked someone had opted to steal the bog-standard seat but conceded there "might have be a bit of nostalgia". "Some bugger must have unbolted it from the back and taken it out of the boozer with no-one seeing it". Four months on, Inwood is still waiting.

http://tvnz.co.nz/national-news/kiwis-crazy-antics-2009-3317432