Bank worker safe after $10m blunder

The bank worker responsible for a Rotorua couple being given $10 million in error is unlikely to be sacked, Finance workers' union Finsec says.

A service station owner and his girlfriend are believed to have skipped the country after gaining the multi-million windfall through a Westpac bank blunder.

"It's not uncommon in the day-to-day business of data entry in a bank for mistakes to be made," Finsec spokesman Andrew Campbell said today.

"The general rule in relation to negligence is that if there's not intention, assuming there wasn't, then that's normally not gross misconduct, so generally wouldn't be a dismissible offence."

Mr Campbell said several factors would be taken into account, such as the worker's previous record at the bank.

"There's no black and white answer," he said.

"If this person does end up being a Finsec member and we're asked to represent them, it's the sort of thing that, on the face of it, there'd be a reasonable degree of mitigating evidence."

The unnamed couple, believed to be Asian man "Leo" Gao and his Kiwi girlfriend Kara (or Cara) Young, have not been seen since.

It has been reported that Westpac had recovered $4m, but $6m was missing.

- NZPA