Daily Telegraph
NSW
Christine Lee granted bail following Sydney Airport arrest four years after $4.6 million was wrongly transferred into her account
A
WOMAN who blew more than $3 million after a banking error was told by a
magistrate yesterday she may not have broken the law in taking “money
we all dream about”.
Christine Lee spent millions on luxury
handbags and renting lavish penthouses after Westpac gave her an
unlimited overdraft on her savings account in 2014.
On the surface
she was a humble 21-year-old Malaysian chemical engineering student but
for the next nine months police allege she accessed more than $4.6
million for a dramatic spending spree.
Her
boyfriend, Vincent King, yesterday told The Daily Telegraph he was
“shocked” at the allegations and had “no idea” his girlfriend was living
the high life.
“She is a good girl,” he said.
“That’s big money.”
The free ride came crashing to a halt on Wednesday night,
when police arrested Ms Lee trying to fly to Malaysia on an “emergency
passport”.
At her first court appearance yesterday, Lee said she
was living in a prestigious sub-penthouse on Rider Boulevard in Rhodes,
which — according to property records — is rented at $780 a week.
Police
prosecutors allege that she churned through millions of dollars
between July 2014 and April last year and told the court $3.3 million of
the money was “outstanding”.
Magistrate Lisa Stapleton said “that’s a lot of handbags” before disputing the validity of the police case against Lee.
“It’s
not a proceed of crime, it’s money we all dream about,’’ she said,
before granting Lee bail with strict conditions. Legal Aid solicitor
Fiona McCarron told the court police would find it difficult to prove
Lee’s spending was illegal.
Ms Stapleton agreed, saying: “She didn’t take it from them. They gave it to her.”
The magistrate said, if that were the case, then Lee would owe the money to the bank but she would not have broken the law.
Ms
Stapleton said Lee was not a flight risk because her passport had been
surrendered and granted her bail to live in her boyfriend’s unit, also
in Rhodes.
Lee spent the night in custody because Mr King could not produce identification in English to prove his identity.
She will appear before Waverley Local Court again today to resubmit accurate bail information.
Ms
Stapleton said the case was more complicated than it first appeared
after hearing Lee was travelling on an emergency passport because “she
lost her passport” and needed to get home in a hurry.
Federal
police arrested the 21-year-old about 8.25pm on Wednesday and took her
to Mascot police station where she was charged with dishonestly
obtaining financial advantage by deception, and knowingly dealing with
the proceeds of crime.
A NSW Police spokeswoman said the CBD fraud unit investigated the money transfer after the error was made
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