Accused named in $1.4m case

A woman at the centre of an alleged $1.4 million bank fraud in the Waikato can now be named.

Hamilton Judge Robert Spear yesterday confirmed name suppression for former Westpac banker Susan Ann Bourton had lapsed.

The 35-year-old former business banker faces 65 fraud and dishonesty charges stemming from her employment at a Hamilton Westpac branch between 2005 and 2006. It is alleged she benefited by $600,000.

In opposing name suppression at last week's hearing the Crown alleged police had received complaints from two banks at which Bourton had applied for a $1.5 million loan using an allegedly forged driver's licence while on bail. The money was to be used to buy a luxury lodge near Karapiro.

Bourton was arrested in July 2009 and a two-week trial has been set for April next year.

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