NZ couple do bunk with £3.9m bank error

New Zealand police have asked Interpol to help them apprehend a couple who did a bunk with an unspecified percentage of a NZ$10m (£3.9m) bank error.

The unnamed couple, believed to have run a Rotorua service station before taking the money and running, applied for a NZ$10,000 loan with Oz bank Westpac, which generously decided to credit them a little extra, the BBC reports.

Sergeant David Harvey of New Zealand Police said: "The individuals associated with this account are believed to have left New Zealand and police [are] working through Interpol to locate those individuals.

"Westpac Bank has recovered some of the money which had been inappropriately withdrawn."

Police did not specify just how much of the runaway wonga had been recovered. Westpac media relations supremo Craig Dowling said the bank was "pursuing vigorous criminal and civil action" to recover the outstanding amount.

The NZ fugitives are evidently a little more savvy than the Pennsylvania Pratts who pulled a similar stunt back in January. Randy and Melissa Pratt got an unexpected $177,250 windfall in their FNB Bank account.

Instead of making straight for Rio de Janeiro, they settled on Florida, where they were subsequently cuffed. Randy Pratt described the cash as "a gift from God", and insisted they'd donated thousands of dollars to charitable causes. ®