Hunt for NZ bank runners proves slow going in China

The progress of Kara Hurring (right) and Leo Gao through Hong Kong, Macau (left) and elsewhere in China was reported on Facebook. Photos / Supplied

Police are still not in China searching for Westpac bank runners Leo Gao and Kara Hurring, who fled New Zealand with $3.8 million three months ago.

It is understood Chinese authorities are not actively searching for the Rotorua couple either.

Detective Sergeant Tony Colby of Rotorua yesterday refused to comment on the case, saying there was no update.

But his colleague Detective Senior Sergeant Mark Loper previously told the Herald the NZ Government was in talks with Chinese officials - at "a very high diplomatic" level.

Rotorua police prepared a "mutual assistance request" to the Chinese Government some weeks after the couple's disappearance on or about May 5, seeking its help in locating them.

The document was reportedly at the Interpol Bureau in Wellington in June.

The request was to go through a number of legal processes before being transferred to the Chinese liaison officer in Beijing.

However, three months after the couple's disappearance there is nothing to suggest Chinese authorities are even looking for them.

The international manhunt was triggered when Gao and Hurring shut up shop at their Rotorua BP petrol station on Old Taupo Rd and fled the country on or about May 5.

Business owners near the station told the Herald the couple had been in financial strife, sometimes closing the station early and often having partly stocked shelves.

Hurring had been working for free, they said, despite having 7-year-old daughter Leena to worry about.

So when a Westpac worker forgot to insert the decimal place in an overdraft, allowing access to $10 million, the couple found it too tempting to ignore.

They were last heard of in a Facebook posting by Hurring's sister Aroha which told of their progress through Hong Kong, Macau and mainland China. She was with them but has since returned to New Zealand.

Hurring's mother, Sue, is at home in Blenheim hoping for her daughter's return.

She could not be reached for comment yesterday, but speaking to the Herald some weeks ago said she had not heard from Kara.

Mrs Hurring suspected her daughter was more worried about being in trouble with her mother, than the law.

She was not surprised to hear police were not actively searching for Hurring and Gao.

"I had a feeling that was going on ... I'm not surprised."

Mrs Hurring said she doubted Chinese police were concerned about looking for a Kiwi couple on the run.

She was not worried about her granddaughter Leena, saying, "Kara is a good mum, she will be okay."

Westpac spokesman Craig Dowling said the bank was supporting police as required, but the actual investigation was in their hands.

CHINESE WALLS

* Under the terms of the "Treaty between New Zealand and the People's Republic of China on Mutual Legal Assistance in Criminal Matters", signed on April 6, 2006, NZ and China are bound to "grant each other assistance in investigations, prosecutions or other proceedings in respect to criminal matters".
* Article 1(3)(a) says "assistance" shall include "locating or identifying persons or items".
* The treaty also states that requests for assistance must be carried out promptly by the "requested party"(China), in accordance with the laws of that party, so long as it is not contrary to its national laws.
* The requested party must notify the requesting party (New Zealand) of circumstances likely to cause a significant delay in carrying out the request.