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A Rotorua, New Zealand couple who fled the country after receiving millions of dollars in a banking error told a friend they were going on a holiday before disappearing.
Rotorua police and Interpol began an investigation yesterday into the disappearance of the money, thought to be $6 million.
It is believed they had applied to Westpac Bank for a $100,000 loan but an error by an employee mistakenly deposited $10M into their account.
Detective Senior Sergeant David Harvey of Rotorua CIB said police and Westpac were investigating the "inappropriate operation" of a Rotorua business account where money had been withdrawn.
Mr Harvey said the account holders had gone overseas and Interpol was working to find them.
He would not confirm how much money was missing but said some believed to be about $4m had been recovered.
The money's disappearance is believed to be connected to a Rotorua BP service station, part-owned by one of the missing couple, which went into receivership on May 8.
The unnamed couple, believed to be Korean Leo Gao and his Kiwi girlfriend Kara Young have not been seen since.
The service station traded as Barnett's BP and was registered in the Companies Register under Heights Services Ltd. The company directors are named as Hui Gao and Huan Di Zhang.
Leo Gao lived in a house close to the service station, with other family members. The unoccupied, furnished house has been for sale for $220,000 since October.
Helaine Aim, owner of neighbouring business St Andrews Bakery, said she was friends with the couple, who she referred to as Leo and Kara, and saw them daily.
She said she last saw them two weeks ago.
"I would go and have coffee with them at their house. They told me they were planning a holiday. I did not see them for a couple of days. I thought it was a little strange but didn't think much about it because I thought they were busy preparing for the holiday."
Mrs Aim said the couple told her they had applied for a loan to refurbish the service station which they were then going to sell.
Westpac's Craig Dowling could not say how the error occurred as the matter was under police investigation and subject to court action.
He declined to say if staff had been censured over the incident.
"I can say we've also been doing our own internal investigation and one of the outcomes ... has been to increase the checks and balances so it doesn't happen again."
The bank said a "substantial amount" of the money had been recovered, and it was "aggressively pursuing all avenues" to recover the rest.
Westpac had hired a private investigator, Mike Dingwall, to conduct inquiries, the New Zealand Herald said.
Mr Dingwall reportedly told staff of a nearby business he had proof Mr Gao had left the country and that records showed Ms Young had used his credit card in Auckland on May 6.
Chevi Lambert, manager of Andy's Cellar, said she understood Ms Young had not fled New Zealand and was with her mother in Blenheim, however police confirmed she had left the country and was still wanted by authorities.
Ms Young's mother, Suzanne Hurring, owns Michel Hair Dzine in the Queen Market Mall in Blenheim.
As a follow-up to the story posted Thursday, April 23, 2009 @ 9:50AM
New Zealand's high commissioner in Ottawa is disappointed her fellow Kiwis are angry at a Canadian Inuk woman who raised concerns about the brand name of a marshmallow candy popular in the southern island nation.
Kate Lackey notes that people in New Zealand are as loyal to the colourful "Eskimos" treats as Canadians are to Tim Hortons coffee. But rude radio comments and online calls for the 21-year-old tourist to head back to Canada are not acceptable, she said Thursday.
"I would hope New Zealanders would be a bit more courteous and understanding," Lackey said.
"I'll probably get into trouble in New Zealand for saying such a thing, but often there's a sort of 'rednecky' element ... The people who get on talk-back (radio) and stuff haven't had time to think through a bit more deeply how the other person might feel."
Canadian Seeka Veevee Parsons made headlines across New Zealand this week after complaining to a TV crew about the candies, which are shaped like a person bundled up in a furry parka and are sold in a bag bearing the picture of a smiling Inuk in front of an igloo.
Born in Iqaluit, Nunavut, and raised in Glovertown, N.L., Veevee Parsons said the word "Eskimo" was originally an insult meaning ``eater of raw flesh." As a child, she was teased and called a ``dirty Eskimo girl."
"I think the term 'Eskimo' can almost be related to the term 'savage' or 'Indian' or maybe even the 'n-word' for African-American people," she said in an interview earlier this week.
The word was replaced in Canada with "Inuk" and "Inuit" in the 1970s, although it is still common in Alaska. And it's still part of the name used by the Edmonton team in the Canadian Football League.
The "Eskimos" debate has led to phone calls and emails flooding New Zealand radio and television shows and has become a prime topic for bloggers. Most are overwhelmingly in support of keeping the name. Some have called Veevee Parsons a "busybody" and a ``b*tch." Many want her to go home.
"Will the Inuit stop clubbing fur seals to death? We don't come to your country and tell you how to live," one man wrote on the 3News television website.
The Cadbury Pascall company has defended its product and refuses to change it.
Lackey said that's a business decision she won't interfere with.
"That sounds a wee bit hard-hearted, but, as I say, this particular candy has been around for so long. I think New Zealanders would have had absolutely no idea that it might cause offence to another people."
She said she has the highest admiration for the Inuit and has travelled across Canada's North.
Veevee Parsons has spent the last two months trekking around New Zealand and planned to leave in a few weeks to tour Australia. She is scheduled to fly home in June.
Before her return, she wants to mail packages of Eskimos candies to Prime Minister Stephen Harper and Nunavut Premier Eva Aariak to bring their attention to the confections.
"I just hope Seeka enjoys her stay in New Zealand and that she doesn't feel that the bulk of New Zealand people would be other than hospitable to a young Canadian on our shores," said Lackey.
She said she doesn't think the candy controversy would ever cause a political rift between the two nations.
"You could hardly have two countries closer together in attitudes and values than Canada and New Zealand," said Lackey.
"I often say that for New Zealanders, Canada seems like the least foreign country in the world. People arrive here and, after about 10 minutes, they feel at home."
By her own calculation, Canadian tourist Seeka Lee Veevee Parsons is one unpopular woman in New Zealand right now – just because of what she insists she is not: an Eskimo.
The Inuit woman is garnering headlines – and animosity – for suggesting a favourite New Zealand candy, the Eskimo Lolly, is both racist and improper.
Veevee Parsons said yesterday she has been shocked at the hostility she has created in the country she loved from the time she arrived two months ago by simply raising the issue of the candy she saw recently in a New Zealand store.
"Calling someone an Eskimo is no longer responsible," said the 21-year-old Parsons, who is from Nunavut but has been on an extended work holiday in New Zealand.
"When I was a kid, they used to call me a dirty Eskimo girl and it's a term that shouldn't be used anymore especially on a candy. Is it right that people go around eating shapes of people of another culture?"
The Eskimo Lolly, described as "cherished" and a "treasure" to New Zealanders, is a multi-coloured marshmallow candy in the shape of a person wearing a thick hooded jacket in front of an igloo.
Veevee Parsons, who is working at an organic farm near the city of Rotorua, said she made the comments to a television station after being interviewed at a tourist information booth she was visiting.
Ever since the story about her complaint aired on one television station earlier this week, Veevee Parsons has been interviewed nearly a dozen times and viewers and readers have been responding by the thousands to her concerns. Most of the response has been personal attacks against Veevee Parsons, with a few telling her to "go home" and others insisting she shut up. "I eat jelly babies. It doesn't mean that I like to bite small children. It's just confectionary," wrote one reader. "If you don't like it, how about you don't buy it!"
Daniel Ellis, spokesperson for Cadbury/Pascall, the maker of the candy in New Zealand, said in an interview with media that he's been surprised by the strong public opinions provoked by Veevee Parsons' comments. In the 54-year history of the Eskimo Lolly, there have been only two complaints about the use of the term, Ellis said.
"People felt one of their favourites was being discussed in such a way that they've had to voice their opinion," said Ellis. "New Zealanders are very patriotic."
The company, while it takes the complaint seriously, doesn't intend to change the name.
A non-sports fan, Veevee Parsons said she didn't even know there was a CFL (Canadian Football League) team called the Edmonton Eskimos until her family pointed out to her that it's her grandfather's favourite team.
Veevee Parsons plans to return home to Canada in June and said she intends to send the candy to Prime Minister Stephen Harper in hopes he'll bring the issue up.
University of British Columbia social work professor Frank Tester, who researches Inuit social history, said the term Eskimo, which originated from the Cree language and translates as eater of raw meat, has never been an appropriate term. He said despite complaints, Eskimo Pie is still for sale and one Vancouver bagel shop shows a toothless Inuit poster to tout its soft bagels.
Veevee Parsons' uncle, David Veevee, who lives in Iqaluit, said he's been surprised at the uproar created over his niece's statements about the use of the word Eskimo.
"It doesn't bother me if people down there in the south use the word Eskimo," said Veevee. "They just don't know any better. So maybe if what she's doing is educating them, that's all right. It's just a candy, after all."
So what do you think? is it simply a candy? or a direct, hateful racial slur? and what ABOUT the names used by those other brands? like Eskimo Pie, or sports teams like Edmonton Eskimos, Washington Redskins, Kansas City Chiefs, Cleveland Indians, or The Chicago Blackhawks logo? is it time, now in 2009 to look into these as well? What do you think?
Theft 101:
- When breaking into a premises, Wear gloves so you don't leave prints, and a mask, so you aren't recognized or recorded on camera
- DON'T take mask and gloves off!!!!!
- DON'T look up for camera's without a mask on!!
- If you find that you have been caught on tape... DON'T post images of yourself performing the theft or robbery on your Facebook page
Police in southern New Zealand nabbed a would-be burglar after they posted security camera images of him trying to break into a safe on the popular social networking site, Facebook.
The Queenstown police are calling it their first Facebook arrest. The police department created its online presence on the site just two months ago, said Constable Sean Drader.
"It's pretty popular, isn't it, this site?" Drader said Wednesday, surprised at the quick success.
The 21-year-old masked man allegedly broke into a local pub through a roof early Monday morning and spent considerable time trying to crack open a safe using an angle grinder.
"It's a very small room that he broke into, and it was hot weather. It's summer here," Drader said. "There are sparks flying all about him. And after about an hour, he gets too hot and takes his gloves and balaclava off."
Unable to break open the safe, the man gave up and got ready to leave, Drader said.
"He looks around to see if he's forgotten anything, and he looks up right at the camera. It was rather silly. We got a good look," he said.
The police department posted the surveillance camera photos on its Facebook page. By the next day, the man was in custody, fingered by viewers who recognized him from the images on the site, and from TV segments on the Facebook posting.
Police did not release the suspect's name, but said the Queenstown native is charged with two counts of burglary.
Facebook, the Web's most popular social networking site, allows users to create personal profiles. They can then connect with one another, upload photos and share links. The site boasts more than 90 million active users.
In November, Facebook helped a seafood restaurant owner in Melbourne identify five customers who dined on oysters, trout and expensive wine and then bolted without paying the US $323 bill.
According to media reports, the owner remembered one of the diners asking about a former waitress.
The waitress suggested the restaurateur look through her friend's list on Facebook. A quick scroll later, the owner spotted one of the bill dodgers.
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