NZPA | 11th August 2011 

http://www.bayofplentytimes.co.nz/have-your-say/news/charges-diluted-in-missing-10m-case/3962651/

Kara Mary-Jo Hurring. Photo / File.

Kara May-Jo Hurring, the woman who left New Zealand after Westpac mistakenly credited her former partner's account with $10 million, faced some new charges, including money laundering, when she appeared in the Rotorua District Court yesterday.

A number of the original charges the 32-year-old faced have been dropped and others substituted.

She is now charged with two money-laundering counts which allege she laundered HK$1.5 million ($229,000) in Macau on May 5, 2009, and 26 theft charges totalling a little over $10,000 between April 29 and 31, that year, in Auckland.

She had been jointly charged with Hiu "Leo" Gao in relation to earlier money-laundering charges.

Gao was the holder of the business account into which the $10 million was deposited.

The latest charges do not include him.

Her counsel, Simon Lance, told Judge Chris McGuire he would apply to have all the charges dismissed. Alternatively, they would be strenuously defended.

He said Hurring had been facing delays for which she was not responsible and was anxious to return to Hong Kong, where her 7-year-old daughter remained and where she had a job.

Judge McGuire adjourned the matter until August 24.

A date is likely to be set then for what he described as the "diluted" charges.

Crown prosecutor Chris Macklin responded by saying the charges were still serious.

Mr Macklin said the Crown was as anxious to proceed as Mr Lance.

The judge denied media applications to view deposition documents and continued suppression orders relating to Hurring's bail terms.

He excused her from attending the August 24 hearing.

As she was at earlier court appearances, Hurring was calm and composed throughout yesterday's appearance.

She stood in the dock neatly dressed in a dark suit and wearing flat black pumps.

Her strawberry blonde hair hung loose around her shoulders.

Hurring was initially charged after she voluntarily returned to New Zealand this year.

At her last court appearance, in June, she pleaded not guilty to the raft of charges she then faced.

Gao is believed to be in China.

At the time the $10 million was credited to his account he operated a Rotorua service station.

It has since been demolished.

He had asked Westpac for a $100,000 overdraft to prop up his ailing business.

The couple left New Zealand within days of the $10 million being deposited in his account.