By Angela Beswick
The man dubbed the Runaway Millionaire is believed to have been arrested in Hong Kong.
Police say a 30-year-old Chinese New Zealander has been arrested in relation to the theft of more than $6 million from Westpac bank in April of 2009.
The man was stopped by border patrol in Hong Kong as he was entering the country from China at Lok Ma Chau. He was arrested by members of Interpol on a warrant relating to New Zealand theft and money laundering charges.
He was due to appear in a Hong Kong court this afternoon.
The arrest comes following a two-and-a-half year police operation into the theft, which occurred after a $10 million overdraft facility was mistakenly loaded into Leo Gao’s business account.
Earlier this year his partner, 32-year-old Kara Hurring was arrested on related charges when she re-entered New Zealand. She will stand trial in February next year.
Police allege Gao transferred $6, 782,000 of the money into other accounts before the couple both fled the country for Hong Kong on separate days. He left on April 29, 2009 and Ms Hurring followed on May 3.
The error was discovered two days later and approximately half of the money recovered. An outstanding sum of $3,872,000 remains unrecovered.
It is not yet known whether Gao will be extradited, as he will be given the opportunity to return to New Zealand voluntarily.
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