Fake Saudi prince may be in NZ

A conman who poses as a Saudi Arabian prince and is wanted in Australia for fraud may now be hiding out in New Zealand.

Frenchman Abdelkarim Serhani, 26, was charged with fraud in May over an unpaid A$42,000 ($49,200) hotel bill on Hamilton Island, off the Queensland coast.

He had posed as a prince, given out huge tips and arrived at nightclubs with bodyguards.

He was bailed to appear in court in late July but fled to Indonesia, stealing cash and a cellphone from the skipper of a yacht that took him to Bali.

A Cairns Post reporter Thomas Chamberlin told The Dominion Post he was in contact with Serhani on Monday, and the conman said he was in New Zealand.

"He said he had arrived in New Zealand and I could hear he was at an airport.

He refuses to say [exactly] where he is but offered to pay for me to go to New Zealand and interview him."

New Zealand Police and Immigration were unable to say if they had been notified last night, and Australian Interpol refused to comment.

- NZPA