Gao will not help recover last $3m

Runaway millionaire Hui Gao has refused to help authorities recover nearly $3 million from more than $6m he stole from Westpac Bank and transferred to offshore accounts.

The former Rotorua service station owner was jailed for four years and seven months yesterday in Rotorua District Court on seven charges of theft totalling $6.78m.

He committed the theft after $10 million – instead of $100,000 – was mistakenly deposited into his Westpac Bank overdraft facility in April 2009.

Gao’s former partner, Kara Mary-Jo Hurring, who the court considered played a lesser role in the theft, was sentenced to nine months’ home detention, and ordered to pay $11,830 reparation to the bank.

Hurring returned to New Zealand in February 2011 after 22 months on the run, while Gao was arrested in September 2011.

The pair, who have ended their relationship, but remain friends, stood side by side in the dock during the almost two-hour sentencing hearing.

Crown prosecutor Fletcher Pilditch told the court Gao had offered little assistance to police or bank staff to help recover the missing money.

Westpac Bank recovered $2.9m after freezing Gao’s accounts several weeks after the banking error was made, but have been unable to recover the outstanding $3.7m.

‘‘A great deal of energy, time and resources have been used to try and recover the stolen funds,’’ Pilditch said.

Lawyer Ron Mansfield described Gao as a hardworking small businessman who was not dishonest but who had succumbed to temptation – akin to the modern day version of Adam and Eve.

In sentencing, Judge Phillip Cooper said Gao had taken advantage of the bank error and had made a persistent effort to get as much of the money overseas as he could.

‘‘There has been no explanation of where the outstanding money is and there is no prospect of paying any reparation,’’ he said.

The $2.9 million worth of funds recovered was the result of extensive efforts by bank staff, and not through any co-operation from Gao, Judge Cooper said.

Outside court Hurring refused to answer questions about where the missing $3.7 million was.

‘‘I just want to talk about today . . . don’t bother going there,’’ she said when asked where the money was.

Hurring has been bailed to an Auckland address and will now fight to get custody of her nine-year-old daughter, Leena.

The young girl has been living with Hurring’s mother, Sue, in Blenheim, since early 2011.