Millionaire runaways urged to come home

Kara Hurring and her daughter Leena. Photo / Supplied

The runaway Westpac millionaires have been in touch with family in New Zealand - and been passed messages by police urging them to come home.

It is the first sign of contact with Kara Hurring, 31, and Leo Gao, 30, since they vanished from our shores last May.

But so far the fugitive couple, who fled to China after being accidentally given $10 million by Westpac, have ignored attempts to bring them back to face possible criminal charges.

Detective Sergeant Mark Loper, heading the investigation, said the runaways had made contact with family "on a couple of occasions".

He said: "There have been a number of attempts to get them to come home but obviously that hasn't worked."

Loper said they were aware of reports that the couple had separated, but was unable to confirm if they were accurate.

Police are believed to be relaying messages through Hurring's family in Blenheim.

Hurring fled New Zealand with her 8-year-old daughter Leena and partner Gao after a banking error credited their account with a $10m overdraft.

They managed to keep around $3.8m.

Further attempts to recover the money were foiled when the bank bungled an attempt to recover its losses through the Hong Kong courts.

Police efforts to locate the couple have been affected by repeated stonewalling from the Chinese Government.

Loper said the police liaison officer in Beijing was still "negotiating" with Chinese authorities.

"We've got no jurisdiction over there. It's not like going to Australia to pick up somebody. They do things their way. It's their country, their rules."

Police were unable to trace any contact that the family had with the runaways because "as soon as you hit China, we hit the Chinese authorities".

"We can trace everything back to that point and then [we are] waiting [for] the authority to go further."

He said Chinese police had not even told their New Zealand counterparts whether they had found the runaways.

There has been speculation that Hurring is likely to escape punishment as she was not a partner in the business the money was placed in. Loper said the speculation might not be correct.

Hurring's mother, Sue, refused to comment, saying only that her daughter was responsible for her own life.

In December, the Herald on Sunday revealed that Westpac's efforts to find the couple had targeted Gao's bother Lei Gao and mother Huang Di Zhang. They are also believed to have left New Zealand.

The story so far

* May 7, 2009: Rotorua petrol station owner Leo Gao and Kara Hurring flee to Hong Kong after a banking error credits Gao's account with $10 million. They escape with about $3.8m.

* June 09: Hurring's sister Aroha joins them on an overseas trip.

* December 09: Westpac is forced to pay legal fees to a casino in Macau after losing a court bid to recover money gambled by Gao.

* March 10: The couple contact family in NZ.