Whether
"accidental millionaire" Hui (Leo) Gao will be allowed out of custody
until he stands trial won't be known until later this week - probably
Friday.
In Rotorua District Court on Monday Judge James Weir
reserved his decision on whether Gao, 32, should be given electronically
monitored bail.
His lawyer Ron Mansfield argued Gao should be
bailed to a rented house in Auckland where his brother is living but
police opposed the application.
Gao is facing 16 charges of theft
and 11 of money laundering after he and his girlfriend Kara Hurring fled
to China when, after applying for a $100,000 overdraft to prop up his
ailing Rotorua Service Station, was credited with $10 million following a
glitch by Westpac.
Gao was arrested at the Hong Kong border in September and was extradited back to New Zealand.
Mr Mansfield raised the possibility of Gao working in a service station while on bail.
But
Sergeant Jim Broom advanced several grounds for the opposition,
including the possibility of Gao being able to access the $3.79 million
not yet been recovered from the $10m.
He said a private address
would could give Gao access to computers and cellphones to make
transitions involving these funds and Gao could flee New Zealand on
false documentation.
He said a Chinese national who had appeared in the Rotorua Court around 18 months ago had "decamped" and remained at large.
However Mr Mansfield countered that Gao was a New Zealand citizen who should not be compared with a Chinese national.
There
was no evidence Gao could access the outstanding funds which could well
have been spent while he was in China or that he had the ability he
could obtain false documentation.
"This is not a man who normally acts dishonestly," Mr Mansfield said.
He
earlier told the court there was a possibility Gao would be tried
jointly with his co-accused, Hurring, who is due to face a jury next
month.
NZN