On finding someone else's wallet, most people would, without thinking too much, take it to the nearest police station. But what if their bank mistakenly put millions of dollars into their account? Almost a fifth of people would take the money and run, according to a poll on the Heraldwebsite.
Those people may be fortified by the fact the money is being taken from an anonymous institution, not a fellow citizen. They could also take comfort from the traditional but rarely valid notion of finders keepers. Yet whatever the fraught justification, they have reached the point where honesty is overpowered by temptation. If, as is said, everyone has a price, they have found theirs.
Just such a choice presented itself to Leo Gao after he applied for a $10,000 overdraft for his struggling Rotorua petrol station. Instead, Westpac placed $10 million into his account. Mr Gao appears to have used the time since to orchestrate a flight from the country after moving a sizeable chunk of the money.
It is a criminal offence for people to spend money accidentally put into their account if they know it is not theirs. Mr Gao surely knows this. He must also have known he was abandoning his New Zealand life. If he returns, it may be in handcuffs. And he would have known he would be the subject of an international manhunt. Looking over his shoulder is part and parcel of his new life.
There may come a time when Mr Gao regrets his decision to flee. There may not. Perhaps he thought he had little to lose and could disappear easily. Presented with a combination of the maximum of temptation and the maximum of opportunity, he made his decision. What, as a Lotto advertisement enticingly inquires, would you do?
