Accidental millionaire’s bail decision delayed

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Thu, 05 Jan 2012 6:13p.m.

Leo Gao appeared in court today

Leo Gao appeared in court today

By Adam Hollingworth

The man known as the ‘accidental millionaire’ will try to get bail with an electronic bracelet when he next appears in court.

Leo Gao was extradited back to New Zealand last month; 19 months after leaving Rotorua when Westpac Bank mistakenly gave him a $10 million overdraft.

Gao, with partner Kara Hurring, is accused of stealing $6.8 million from Westpac and skipping the country.

Chinese-born Hui Gao, known here as Leo, faces two charges of money laundering and 16 of theft from the bank.

In 2009 Gao was running a Rotorua BP station when he applied to the bank for a $100,000 overdraft.

An administrative error loaded the $10 million instead.

Court papers allege the couple spent 10 days siphoning money from their account, up to $500,000 at a time, before fleeing.

Hurring returned voluntarily last February and will stand trial next month.

Gao was extradited from Hong Kong just before Christmas but on his last appearance was remanded in custody because no judge was available to hear his application for bail.

This time his lawyer said police still need time to check a potential bail address.

Judge Jocelyn Munro remanded Gao in custody until January 23 when the court will decide whether to release him on bail with an electronic bracelet.

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Comments

06 Jan 2012 03:57p.m.

All that's holy wrote:

Gerranium, you say the bank should be punished too. Well, theirs was an innocent error and such a mistake isn't a crime. But on the other hand if a load of money is accidentally dumped in your account and it isn't meant for you, a crime certainly will have been committed if you use it and you should be punished for it. (Whether Gao actually is guilty has still to be proved, of course.) You also say that but for the bank error, Gao wouldn't be facing a judge today. That's not quite true. It was what allegedly happened AFTER the error that led to court, not the teller's mistake. Your argument is a bit like saying that if somone walked into a gang pad by mistake and was then murdered it was down to their own stupidity.

06 Jan 2012 01:16p.m.

Roy Rogers wrote:

@ Craig Taken as a whole, the Asian crime rate is particularly low here, so I feel you're being very unfair and xenophobic, if not racist. And I can think of a few Pakeha who would have acted in the same wat if a few mil was dumped in their lap.

05 Jan 2012 11:03p.m.

Craig wrote:

To hell with him! "accidental millionaire" is a title he is not worthy of... The only 'accident' was on the part of the bank... The only title worth giving to this man is the true one: CRIMINAL THIEF. Why do we have so much of this Asian crime mentality in thin country? ... I bet most Kiwi's would never have done what he did... But we give this creature a 'home' in our beautiful country...

05 Jan 2012 09:32p.m.

N Wilson wrote:

If he gets bail after his last disappearing act the law's an even bigger ass than I imagined. He has incredible cheek even to apply after leading the rozzers such a merry dance through Asia. His picture suggests he has an air of arrogance about him, that's for sure.

05 Jan 2012 08:40p.m.

Gerranium wrote:

Is the bank going to be punished too? Afterall, if the bank didnt make the error, Mr Gao wouldn't be facing a judge today. But, no, the law protects corporates as usual. Sod the law and Governments.