Will the kiwi couple fleeing with $10m bank error money be caught by the end of June?

Here's the full story, I reckon $10 million could buy you a lot of 'invisibility'. We'll see.....

http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/crime/2428243/Couple-missing-after-10m-bank-bungle

Part of me is hoping that they find paradise, but I am wagering that 10M will bring out the local private investigators.

I reckon good on 'em, we kiwis are generally an honest bunch, but I'm picking we'll swing in behind the little guy on this one - there's been a lot of bad press about the big banks recently, and most of ours are australian owned....

They have headed to China apparently, with Westpac hard on their heels!!

http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/crime/2428243/Couple-missing-after-10m-bank-bungle

Just had a look at this on the news, apparently the whole extended family has done a runner - mom, in laws, the works...looks like they left in a hurry too, half eaten peanut bags on the coffee table etc...

I am afraid that taking the whole extended family will be the undoing of this windfall.
My wife is the same way though. She would not want to live without her family nearby.

This falls into the category of financial crimes that I just don't understand. Whenever people get money for nothing the government always prosecutes them. Madoff just convinced people to give him money. What's wrong with that? This couple just got lucky. Why prosecute? Even getting a free ice cream is apparently a crime. http://www.hubdub.com/m42072/Will_Police_find_Sweettalker_who_uses_fake_coin_to_buy_ice_cream

Next thing you know the injustice system will be prosecuting lottery winners.

What is the tax rate on lottery winnings anyways?
Wait till the Obama Regime discovers that they are not going to pull in needed taxes by rewarding failure, and penalizing business.

Lottery taxes will go through the friggin roof.

Arrrghh, cookie, I just sent a question in on this same topic. Somehow didn't catch yours. I used "new zealand couple", not kiwis.. Will have to cancel.. Or maybe change somehow... argghh.

Nice question!!

Arrghhh, will have to go back to pirate questions..

YARGH Big ken, thats fine, yours asks for specific dates, so I reakon its different enough to avoid a void....also yours has a different $$$ amount!! There is quite a lot of confusion about how much money they actually made off with...

These people are as good as caught already - my bet is they'll be rounded up before half of June is over.

Like chat says, 10 mil will buy alot of PI work. China? Gee, way to blend in effortlessly...


I wonder what sort of penalty gets applied - i bet they get the book thrown at them.



The lottery isnt taxed in Australia, is it different in NZ? :)

I dont think the lottery is taxed here, but in a way our banking system is like a lottery, you pay outrageous bank fees for minor transactions, in the hope that one day the bank might put millions in your account...they should just legalise the whole process ;D

...and in an update, it seems the bank got some of the money back, the couple still have around $4m, and are believed to be in hong kong...

http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/crime/2431280/Bank-confirms-its-chasing-3-8-million

@Buckojo,
"The lottery isn't taxed in Australia, is it different in NZ? :) "

In the states, it varies by each state, but the average amount is about 40% being taxed.

Hadley @ 14, that is the most beautifully random comment i have ever read. I had a Swatch in the 80's too, so your comments are accesible. I never, however, thought that my Swatch might be a fake, but now I am considering it, so your comment is also relevant. Nice!

Apparently there is going to be a police update on this tomorrow morning (NZ time)

Police have said they wont be charged with theft as the bank gave it over to them, but they will prob get charged with misuse of a computer...doesnt sound too bad?

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10574532

Interesting definition of non-theft.
I always thought if you took something that did not belong to you, even by mistake, then you were guilty of theft,
unless you were willing to return it. Then just guilty of bad character. Silly me.

I once helped identify a carload of guys who were stealing some tires from the tire store next door to where I worked.
They knew that we had their license place and description, so they returned the tires, voluntarily.
Later, the police would not press charges because the tires were no longer missing.
:-(

@Buckojo
I am not sure if your comment 15 is a response to my comment # 14 or not.
If it is, then I might politely recommend that you stay off the dope, while wagering on Hubdub.
It will help with your winning averages too.
:-)

How on earth do you get $3.8m out of the country anyway. Can't the local cops just take it back?

@Johnno29,
I always use a greasy shoehorn and a BIG suitcase.
J/K - I was wondering about the same thing.

LOL, that's a lot of $100 notes! Keep an eye out for the Kiwis in Sumo suits.

Hmmmm now the papers are saying the couple may have split up....I'm not sure how either of the 2 questions on this story will settle if only one is caught. I didn't think of that...we'll wait and see I guess?

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10574648

Chat @ 19

staying off the dope has not helped me yet.

I was on multi screens and got mildly confused. Some great people have become mildly confused.

Many of them incidentally smoked dope. It can be intuitive to make a link between the two variables. But no matter how natural the argument, it alwasy helps to look beyond and query whether there is a famly history of mental illness, long times spent in confined spaces as a child, or a tendency towards pyromania, before conclusion.

Until that time, government policy in this area will remain ill thought out, ineffective, and unfair.

chat @ 18

that is interesting. In Australia 'stealing' requires an intent to permanently deprive the owner of the property.

The probelms encountered with car theft (where that intent is usually absent) lead to legislation being passed modifying the law as to auto theft.

Also in Australia, you can defend a charge of stealing by relying on a statutory defence called 'honest claim of right' where you are not convicted if you held a genuine, though mistaken, belief in the right to deal with the property.

Given my massive losses on this question over the last 12 hours i am fully in favour of a voiding if the couple have spilt. They are now merely two individuals. like hitler and stalin.

@Buckojo,
I must admist to being somewhat confused on a fairly regular basis. Sometimes it is because I jump to conclusions too frequently. But that aside, I am currently confused about car theft. If somebody takes a (any but their own) car, is not the intent to steal there as well? Seems as if they were intent on taking said automobile, unless they are confused too.

P.S. I wish I could retract the "dope" comment. I am clean now, but certainly abused in my youthful days, which are unfortunately way behind me.
;-)

@ buckojo how did you manage to lose big on this question in the last 12 hours - the chart has barely moved?

Anyways, I've been thinking about this question and even if they have split up, I'd say it would settle as yes if they are both caught by the end of June (whether together or separately), settle as no if neither are caught, and be voided if the cops nab one but not the other. Sound fair?

Also, buckojo wasn't on crack, there was a spam message from Hadley who was trying to sell fake swatch watches or real swatch watches or nigerian pyramid schemes or something, but it got deleted...

@ chat the problem is with the definition of stealing including the 1/ taking of the object and 2/ the intent to deprive on a permanent basis. If you just had 1/ then any taking could be stealing which would a practical nightmare (ie picking up someones pen or lighter and returning it immeditaley after use). So the definition needs an intent to deprive also. The laws are changed now for autos though.

@cookie sorry - i mean my losses on the question of which country they will be found/caught in - I thought asia was pretty good at about 30% but it plumeted to about 17% :(

If a bank randomly gave out lottery-type bonanzas (up to $100,000, say), it could offer a lower interest rate and/or take business from competitors.

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