Alleged Westpac offender extradited to New Zealand - to appear Manukau District Court this afternoon

The 30 year old Chinese/New Zealander arrested in Hong Kong in relation to the theft of $6,782,000 from Westpac bank in 2009 has been extradited to New Zealand and will appear in the Manukau District Court this afternoon (Wednesday 21 December).

The man was arrested in Hong Kong at the end of September and had been remanded in custody in Hong Kong while the extradition process was on-going .

New Zealand Police received notification in the first week of December that extradition approval had been granted by Hong Kong authorities. New Zealand Police understand that the man did not contest the extradition.

Two Detectives traveled to Hong Kong last weekend to complete the process and accompany the man back to New Zealand in Police custody. The team arrived back into New Zealand at 11:30am this morning. The man is currently being processed by Police and is due to appear in the Manukau District Court this afternoon on warrants for theft and money laundering.

The man's arrival back in New Zealand follows a two and a half year Police operation into the theft, which allegedly occurred after a $10 million overdraft facility was mistakenly loaded into the man's business account.

A 32 year old woman, Kara Hurring, was arrested on related charges when she re-entered New Zealand earlier this year. She is due to stand trial in 2012.

It is alleged that the man transferred $6,782,000 of the money into other accounts, and then both left New Zealand for Hong Kong – the man on 29 April and Ms Hurring on 3 May. The error was discovered on 5 May, with approximately half of the money recovered from New Zealand accounts, leaving an outstanding sum of $3,872,000 unrecovered.

The officer in charge of the investigation, Detective Inspector Mark Loper, says today's developments are extremely satisfying for the investigation team who have worked tirelessly on the case over the past two and a half years.

"However, there is still a great deal of work to be done to ensure that people are held accountable for this substantial theft.

"Operation Westpac has remained a very active investigation over the past two and a half years, involving a number of New Zealand Police staff from Rotorua, around New Zealand, in China and Hong Kong.

"There has been a significant amount of work underway behind the scenes – but for obvious reasons we haven't been in a position to discuss it. The fact that the matter involved two or three different jurisdictions has also added a layer of complexity and sensitivity."

Detective Inspector Loper says he would like to thank the Hong Kong Police for their efforts, particularly over the past week.