21 May 2009
The Asian couple had applied for an overdraft of NZ$10,000 but are understood to have received $10 million in the blunder.
They disappeared earlier this month, two days after receiving their windfall.
The pair are understood to have owned a petrol filling station in the North Island tourist resort of Rotorua, which has since stopped trading and been put into receivership.
A spokesman for Westpac Bank said the overpayment was the result of “human error” and that the bank was reviewing its procedures.
He said the bank was “pursuing vigorous criminal and civil action to recover the sum of money stolen”.
Police, who refused to confirm the amount involved, have asked Interpol for help in finding the couple.
Detective Senior Sergeant David Harvey said Westpac considered that what had happened was theft or fraud, through the use of a document to obtain a pecuniary advantage.
He said the amount had been “mistakenly advanced” but that some of the money had since been recovered.
Claire Matthews, a banking lecturer at New Zealand’s Massey University, said the business owners would be hard pressed to argue that they honestly believed they were entitled to such a huge amount.
“They’ve taken funds that they’re not entitled to, that are not theirs,” she said.
SOURCE : YAHOO
Subject: Couple flee after bank mistakenly gives them $10m 
Thu May 21, 2009 9:13 am
