The TVNZ drama written by Pip Hall and directed by Danny Mulheron starred Australian actor George Zhao as Gao and Jess Sayer as Hurring. Joel Tobeck also starred as Rotorua Detective Inspector Mark Loper.
While the majority of the production was filmed in Auckland the cast and crew were in Rotorua last November shooting location scenes for the production.
Accidental millionaires
On April 19th 2009 Gao applied for an overdraft of $100,000 for his BP service station business, which was located on the corner of Old Taupo and Otonga Roads. Two days later a Westpac employee made an error with a decimal point providing an overdraft of $10 million.
Between April 24th and May 4th funds totalling $6.7 million were withdrawn from the business account. Gao left New Zealand on April 29th and Hurring followed on May 3rd.
On May 5th Westpac learnt of their mistake. At the time Westpac was able to recover $2.9 million but around $3.8 million was missing. At the time of trial $3.3 million had not been recovered.
After the Rotorua Daily Post broke the story it was an event that received national and international media attention and spanned three years.
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| Rotorua Daily Post, Friday 22 May 2009, p. 1. |
On February 25th 2011 Hurring returned to New Zealand voluntarily and was arrested at Auckland International Airport.
Gao was stopped in September 2011 by the Hong Kong border patrol when he tried to cross from mainland China to Hong Kong. He was arrested by members of Interpol. Gao did not oppose extradition and returned to New Zealand in December of that year.
In May 2012 Hurring plead not guilty to 25 counts of theft, three counts of attempting to dishonestly use a document and two counts of money laundering.
It took the jury less than an hour to find Hurring guilty of all charges after a 4 day trial at Rotorua District Court.
On June 12th Gao plead guilty to seven charges of theft.
On August 24th Gao was sentenced to four years and seven months in prison and Hurring served nine months home detention. Gao was released from prison after serving sixteen months.
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| Rotorua Daily Post, Saturday 19 May 2012, p. 1. |
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| Rotorua Daily Post, Wednesday 13 June 2012, p. 5. |
Rotorua Library staff member and former journalist Abigail Hartevelt broke the story for the Rotorua Daily Post. Abigail kindly shared her memories covering the story with us.
How did you first become aware of the story?
As a journalist and now a former journalist I can't possibly reveal my sources. I remember the first week or two after the story broke was absolutely crazy trying to get a story every day with a new angle.
When you first reported the story in May 2009 both Westpac and the Police were not forthcoming with information. How did this affect you and your colleagues reporting?
I guess as a journalist it was frustrating but they were there to do their jobs and we were there to do ours.
After the Rotorua Daily Post reported the story other media organisation would have descended on Rotorua. Can you describe this experience?
Descend on Rotorua they certainly did. Oh my word it was pretty full on but how could they not. Have you ever heard of anyone getting $10 million accidentally deposited into their bank account? This story attracted local, national and international media attention.
What were your memories of covering the court cases for Leo Gao and Kara Hurring?
I remember there was a lot of media. Media sat at the press bench but also in the public gallery and even the jury box during Leo Gao's court appearances. I might add there was no jury needed in Leo's case as he pleaded guilty to the charges. I remember having to go live to be interviewed on BBC World after the pair were sentenced and thinking I was going to be sick. I hate being on TV. I have been caught up in a number of media scrums and I remember nearly falling over a sandwich board outside the Pig and Whistle as we followed Kara Hurring during her trial. At least I didn't actually fall over like I did at the end of another high profile court case. But that's a whole other story.
The Editor of the Rotorua Daily Post published an editorial on the Saturday after the story broke leading with the line: 'It's the kind of story that Hollywood movies are made of.' Did you ever think that this story would make it to the screen?
I'm surprised it has taken this long to be made into a movie.
This blog post was written by Graeme. Thanks to Abigail Hartevelt and the Daily Post.
