Malaysian who spent wrongly transferred $4.6m: I thought my parents gave me the money

The Malaysian student in Australia who allegedly spent A$4.6 million (S$4.6 million) that was mistakenly given to her by a bank, has said that she thought the money was from her parents.

Asked why she thought she had access to so much money, she said "my parents give me lots of money", the Sydney Morning Herald reported on Sunday (May 22).

The Herald reported that Christine Lee Jia Xin, 21, had received a phone call from the bank in April last year, after it froze her account upon realising its mistake in giving her "unlimited overdraft".

Asked why she had overdrawn A$4.6 million from her account, she said she thought her wealthy parents in Malaysia were putting the money in her account.

Lee was arrested early this month at an airport when she tried to leave Australia with an emergency Malaysian passport.

She has been accused of siphoning money from her Westpac bank account to other "secret" bank accounts, and is said to have splurged on luxury products.

Lee has been charged with dishonestly obtaining financial advantage by deception and knowingly dealing with the proceeds of the crime.

sinsh@sph.com.sg