Dreaming of the (really) good life they could have had

Fiona Whitworth shows off the docket that proves she had $99 million in her Westpac account. Photo / Glenn Jeffrey

Had they taken off with the $99 million Westpac accidentally popped into their account, Fiona and James Whitworth would not be paying off a mortgage and James would not be working in Afghanistan.

"We would probably have more friends!" Mrs Whitworth joked.

The couple from Waiau Pa in Franklin were on their way home from the local pub in 1998 when they checked their bank account at an ATM and found an extra $99 million sitting there: $99,991,572.49, to be exact.

They knew it was a mistake because their account had been in overdraft last time they checked. "We looked at each other and thought, 'Oh yeah, that's not ours'."

The next morning the money was gone but Mrs Whitworth still has the receipt as proof it was once there.

At the time, she was working as a sales assistant at Levene in Botany and her husband was in construction. There is no doubt their lives would have been different had they taken the money, but Mrs Whitworth could not see how they would have gotten away with it, even if they had wanted to.

Of fugitive Leo Gao, she said: "He's done the wrong thing, but good luck to him."

She said the whole scenario was put into perspective when a friend discovered this week that burglars had stripped their home.

"At least [the fugitive] is not a real scumbag - the bank made a mistake."