$6m runaways have head start

The business shut the day after it received millions. Photo / Alan Gibson

Leo Gao and his business partner, Huan Di Zhang, were struggling.

Staffing at their modest BP Barnetts station on Old Taupo Rd, Rotorua, was at a minimum. Gao's girlfriend, Cara Young, was working for free and had a 7-year-old daughter to think about. The shop's shelves were partly unstocked and it was often closed during business hours.

And the receivers were knocking at the door.

Then - with an apparent slip of a bank employee's finger - their fortunes changed dramatically.

Gao - believed to be originally from China and in his 30s - applied to Westpac bank for a $10,000 overdraft.

Instead, it put $10 million into his account. Now, he is the subject of an international manhunt.

And the Herald understands he may have had a head-start on authorities.

The whereabouts of Mr Zhang, who owns 60 per cent of the BP Barnetts business, is unknown.

The money was in the account on or about May 5. The following day, the BP station closed its doors. But it was only on Thursday this week that police said they were investigating.

In the meantime, Westpac hired a private investigator - Mike Dingwall, who describes himself on his business card as a "former police licensed investigator" - to conduct inquiries.

Police would not say yesterday when Westpac alerted them to the missing money.

Inquiry head Detective Senior Sergeant David Harvey of Rotorua CIB said police had called on Interpol to help find "individuals associated with the account" who were believed to have fled the country with a large sum of money "mistakenly advanced" by Westpac.

It is understood as much as $6 million is missing. The bank has recovered $4 million.

Westpac spokesman Craig Dowling refused to confirm the amount mistakenly handed over, saying only that the bank was "pursuing vigorous criminal and civil action to recover the sum of money stolen".

The bank also refused to reveal how the money was removed from the account, saying only that human error, not a systems error, was responsible for the windfall and that the bank was reviewing its procedures.

Police refused to answer questions yesterday and released only scant information.