Australian man faces jail for keeping found cash

SYDNEY - Everybody dreams of finding a small fortune, but a young man who says he stumbled across more than A$250,000 ($271,000) cash in a Sydney street has found his dream is turning into a nightmare.

Instead of striking it rich, the 23-year-old bank worker faces up to five years in prison for larceny after failing to hand the money to police.

The unidentified man, who stashed part of the loot under his desk, has been charged with stealing by finding.

The charge is based on an age-old legal principle that a finder must make all reasonable attempts to locate the loser, police said.

Finders can be keepers if they surrender their catch to police and it goes unclaimed, Detective Inspector Darren Boyd-Skinner said. "But this isn't one of those cases.

"There's an obligation on members of the public who find things on the street to hand them over to the appropriate authority, ie the police.

"In this case the amount exceeded more than a quarter of a million dollars and therefore that makes it a serious offence, and one that appropriately is dealt with in a court."

Acting on a tip, police arrested the man when he arrived for work on Monday, seizing a bag from his desk.

After interviewing the man, police yesterday found the majority of the A$250,000, in non-sequential notes, in a safety deposit box at another bank.

The man told police he found the money in one bundle sitting in a lane in inner-city Sydney some weeks ago.

If the cash goes unclaimed, it will go to state coffers. So far, no one has come forward.

Boyd-Skinner said the money could be the proceeds of crime and will undergo forensic examination to determine its origin.

And when it comes to finding money, it seems not even the smallest amount will exclude someone from prosecution if they fail to hand it over, police said.

The man, from inner-city Chippendale, was also charged with goods in custody and granted bail to appear at Central Local Court on June 20.

- AAP