New Zealand's "runaway millionaire", who allegedly escaped to China after a mistaken bank transaction, has appeared in an Auckland court.



Hui Gao, known as Leo, was arrested crossing from China to Hong Kong in September, 2 and a half years after police launched an investigation into the alleged theft.



Gao, 30, appeared in the Manukau District Court this afternoon before Judge Jonathan Moses to face 16 charges of theft and three of money laundering.



A lawyer acting on instruction for defence counsel Ron Mansfield said Gao wanted to apply for bail but he had not had a chance to speak to his lawyer yet.



Judge Moses remanded Gao in custody to reappear in the Rotorua District Court on Friday where he could then apply for bail.



Media requests to photograph Gao were declined.



The money was taken after a $10 million overdraft facility was mistakenly loaded into the business account of Gao and former partner Kara Hurring by a Westpac staff member.



Police allege the former Rotorua petrol station owner then transferred $6,782,000 into other accounts before he and Hurring, 32, fled to Hong Kong. Gao left first on April 29, 2009, with Hurring allegedly following him on May 3.



The banking error was not discovered until May 5 and a scramble to get back the missing millions still left $3,872,000 unrecovered. About $3 million is still outstanding.



Gao's arrest came after an Interpol "red alert" was triggered when he tried to cross the border from mainland China to Hong Kong.



The Interpol warrant stated Gao was wanted by the Rotorua District Court for charges of theft and money-laundering.



Gao appeared before a committal judge at the Eastern Magistrates Court in Sai Wan in late September and was refused bail. He was remanded in custody to appear in court again on October 28.



He arrived in New Zealand in the custody of two detectives at 11.30 this morning.



Hurring was arrested in February after travelling back to Auckland to obtain a passport for her daughter, Leena.



She has been charged with 28 counts of theft, two counts of money-laundering and two counts of attempting to use a document, in Auckland, Macau and Hong Kong. The total amount of the charges is $256,500. A trial for Hurring, who is on bail, is set down for February.



The officer in charge of the investigation, Detective Inspector Mark Loper, said Operation Westpac had remained a "very active" investigation for the past 36 months and had involved police staff in New Zealand, mainland China and Hong Kong.



He said today's developments were extremely satisfying for the investigation team who had worked tirelessly on the case.



"However, there is still a great deal of work to be done to ensure that people are held accountable for this substantial theft," he said.



"There has been a significant amount of work underway behind the scenes - but for obvious reasons we haven't been in a position to discuss it. The fact that the matter involved two or three different jurisdictions has also added a layer of complexity and sensitivity."



Loper said he would like to thank the Hong Kong police for their efforts, particularly over the past week.