Christine Jaixin, 21-year-old woman was arrested at Sydney Airport trying to leave
Australia after allegedly spent millions on handbags and luxury goods after
$4.6 million was mistakenly transferred into her bank account FOUR years ago.
21 year-old Girl blew millions on handbags and luxury goods' after $4.6m was wrongly transferred into her bank account FOUR years ago
Christine
Jiaxin Lee, a Malaysian national, wrongly received the money after it
was transferred into her Westpac bank account as an overdraft four years
ago.
The
chemical engineering student, who was attempting to leave to Malaysia
when she was picked up by Australian Federal Police at Sydney Airport on
Wednesday night, still allegedly owes $3.3 million to her bank
She allegedly purchased 'luxury items' while taking advantage of the mistakenly extended overdraft.
Lee
appeared at Waverley Local Court on Thursday after being charged with
dishonestly obtaining financial advantage by deception and knowingly
dealing with the proceeds of crime.
Despite
an earlier glitch over her bail, the young student was later allowed to
leave the court on condition that she report twice daily to police in
the Sydney suburb of Ryde, surrenders her emergency passport and lives
with her boyfriend in the suburb of Rhodes.
'She
didn't take it from them - they gave it to her,' the Magistrate said of
the money Miss Lee had accessed from her bank account.
The
court heard that although the police fraud unit had started their
investigation into the withdrawal of the money in 2012, they only issued
the arrest warrant on March 4 this year.
The
student told her lawyer that she had obtained the emergency passport to
fly home to Malaysia to visit her parents, who did not know about her
arrest.
Lee's
lawyer, Fiona McCarron told the court that the money was partly spent
on luxury items like expensive handbags, to which the Magistrate
commented: 'That's a lot of handbags.'
And Ms Stapleton agreed with the lawyer when she said the police would struggle to prove the spending of the money was illegal.
'They
gave it to her,' said the Magistrate, who added that if it was proved
that the money was indeed given to Miss Lee, then the student would owe
the money to the bank and have to pay it back.
'But she wouldn't necessarily have broken the law,' said the Magistrate.
The
court heard she knew police were attempting to make contact with her
and she obtained an emergency Malaysian passport in order to leave the
country.
But
Lee's lawyer reportedly said that she had wanted to return home to
visit her parents who were unaware of her arrest in Australia.
She
was granted bail for $1,000 and faces strict bail conditions, with
Magistrate Lisa Stapleton agreeing with the prosecution that her
attempts to flee Australia meant that she posed a flight risk.
Ms
Stapleton appeared to suggest the student may not have broken the law
and told the court: 'It's not proceeds of crime. It's money we all dream
about.
'She didn't take it from (the bank). They gave it to her.'
The
magistrate said that if this is what happened, the student would owe
the money she had spent but would not have broken the law.
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