Police have issued an arrest warrant and international border alert for a Kiwi man accused of laundering nearly $250,000 for off-shore scammers.

One of the man’s alleged victims says she’s appalled the man did not have to surrender his passport as part of his bail conditions and she fears he could have fled overseas, after he failed to appear in court.

The man, in his 50s, was charged in May last year with two counts of money laundering in connections with two scam victims.

One of them is North Shore real estate agent Carla O’Neil, who lost $100,000 in February 2023. She has since spearheaded a victims’ group advocating for better protections from banks.

While looking for investment opportunities, O’Neil was contacted by a well-spoken man claiming to be a Citibank portfolio manager.

She was tricked into wiring her life savings to an ASB bank account, believing the cash was going into a Citibank term deposit.

O’Neil visited her local BNZ branch to make the transfer and was then emailed log-in details to an elaborate online “client portal” where she could see her money in the supposed term deposit account and track her investment as it accrued interest.

But none of it was real.

A month later, BNZ phoned O’Neil and informed her she had been scammed. A freeze was put on the recipient ASB account but just $20,000 was recovered.

O’Neil complained to the Banking Ombudsman about BNZ and was awarded 70% compensation in a landmark decision earlier this year.

Police initially told O’Neil the recipient was likely a “mule” caught up in the trickery, either moving money on as part of a romance scam, or their internet banking had been hacked by the thieves.

However, police arrested a Hamilton man in May last year in connection with the fraud.

He was charged with two counts of money laundering – one involving O’Neil and the second charge involving another victim who lost $135,000 just three days before her.

The defendant first appeared in Auckland District Court in May last year and was remanded on bail.

He was due back in court last month for a judge-alone trial on the two charges but failed to appear.

An arrest warrant was issued for the man and police have been trying to locate him ever since.

Court staff confirmed to the Herald the man only had residential and non-association bail conditions imposed by the court.

“There was no bail condition for him to surrender his passport.”

A police spokeswoman said the defendant was still being sought.

“At this stage, police do not have concerns he will leave the country, however, he does have a border alert, as with many warrants to arrest issued.”

O’Neil told the Herald she was shocked to learn the man was not forced to surrender his passport and she feared he could be a flight risk.

She criticised communications about the case from both police and the courts, which she said had been hopelessly confusing.

”Communication has been appalling from police with lack of updates and abundance of mixed messages about the status of the court appearance, then no urgency being put on finding him. It’s been appalling on so many levels.”

Constant delays in resolving the court case were “incredibly disappointing as a victim trying to piece my life back together”, she said.

Police said they would be in touch directly with the victim and update her as enquiries continued.

-NZ Herald.