Explanation sought in immigration case

WELLINGTON: Immigration Minister Iain LeesGalloway needs to explain why he has granted residence to a Czech man with gang associations who is in prison for drugsmuggling, National says.

Mr LeesGalloway used his power of ‘‘absolute discretion’’ to cancel deportation liability and grant residence to Karel Sroubek, also known as Jan Antolik. That means he does not have to explain why he made his decision, but National’s immigration spokesman, Michael Woodhouse, a former immigration minister, said that was not good enough.

‘‘Serious questions need to be answered by the minister about his decision. The information I have on this case does not come close to any threshold where special consideration should be given by the minister,’’ Mr Woodhouse said.

‘‘This Government has promised to clamp down on immigration, making it harder for Kiwi employers to fill skills shortages, yet it allows violent criminals to stay here. Mr LeesGalloway will not say why he made the decision to grant residency, nor what the conditions of [Sroubek’s] residency are.’’

Sroubek was jailed in 2016 for five years and nine months after being convicted of importing 5kg of MDMA with a street value of $375,000.

The conviction came four years after a judge discharged him without conviction despite him being found guilty of having a false passport and lying to immigration officials.

Sroubek would have been liable for deportation at the end of his prison term.

Mr LeesGalloway said Sroubek was granted residence subject to significant conditions.

‘‘The decision to grant residence was made after careful consideration of all the information available at the time. For privacy and legal reasons, I am unable to disclose this information or comment on specific details of the case. It’s not a decision I’ve taken lightly,’’ he said in a statement.

Sroubek came to New Zealand from the Czech Republic in September 2003 to start a new life as Jan Antolik after fleeing corrupt police who wanted him to lie and clear the main suspect in a murder investigation.

Instead, he left a videotaped witness statement that was later crucial in convicting the killer.

He fled with a doctored passport but was unmasked in October 2009 when Czech police gave New Zealand police details of his identity and an arrest warrant on minor charges in connection with the 2003 murder.

Sroubek pleaded not guilty to the charges but admitted using a false identity to come to New Zealand, saying he had a ‘‘reasonable excuse’’ because he had fled his homeland in fear of corrupt police officers and a criminal.

The Crown did not dispute his story but said he should have revealed his true identity to New Zealand authorities.

A jury convicted him in 2011 but Judge Roy Wade gave him a second chance, as a conviction would provide grounds for automatic deportation and he believed Sroubek would still be in danger if he were deported.

Four years later, Sroubek was convicted on the MDMA charge. He appealed that conviction last year, saying he had been framed, but the Court of Appeal rejected his appeal.

Sroubek has had other brushes with the law in New Zealand. He was arrested in a drug investigation just days after his false passport trial in 2011 and later convicted of being a party to the manufacture of class C drugs, but the conviction was overturned on a technical ground.

He was also previously acquitted of committing an aggravated robbery with two members of the Hells Angels. — NZME

❛ Serious questions need to be answered by the minister about his decision

National immigration spokesman Michael Woodhouse