Sroubek travelled home — twice

Minister under fire for cancelling a deportation notice

Adrug smuggler controversially allowed to stay in New Zealand — ostensibly because of fears for his life if he returned to the Czech Republic — travelled twice to the Czech Republic in 2009.

Karel Sroubek entered New Zealand in 2003 on a false passport in the name of Jan Antolik, later claiming the new identity was because he witnessed a murder in his homeland.

He told the jury in his trial he had fled his home in the Czech Republic in fear of corrupt police officers and a criminal after witnessing a murder.

While the jury found him guilty of having a false passport and lying to immigration officials, Sroubek was discharged without conviction in 2012 by Judge Roy Wade who believed Sroubek’s evidence.

Immigration Minister Iain LeesGalloway has this week come under fire for cancelling a deportation notice for Sroubek, although yesterday said he was seeking a review of all information relating to his decision.

Lees-Galloway says he did not know about a court document revealing that Sroubek had been back to Europe in 2009.

Under pressure over his decision to grant residency to Sroubek, LeesGalloway conceded it would be good to “reflect” on the process and see if it could be improved.

The minister has asked Immigration NZ to investigate serious claims that, if true, would contradict the reasons why he granted Sroubek conditional residency in the first place.

The Herald has obtained a 2009 High Court judgment which reveals Sroubek — under the name Antolik — twice successfully applied for his bail conditions to be loosened so he could travel to the Czech Republic.

At the time, he was on charges of aggravated robbery and kidnapping with two members of the Hells Angels and a professional kickboxer. All four were later acquitted.

But the bail judgment shows Sroubek returned to his homeland on business.

“He is the owner of two businesses which are involved in trade with parties in the Czech Republic and it is necessary for him to go there from time to time in order to facilitate transactions involving the import of Czech goods into New Zealand,” wrote Justice Christopher Allan.

“Earlier this year, a similar application was made and granted over the opposition of the police. Mr Antolik duly went to Europe and returned in compliance with the conditions of the bail variation. Since then Mr Antolik has been committed for trial in this court.”

Antolik’s passport — later found to be false — was returned to him for a three-week period in September 2009 so he could travel to the Czech Republic.

While the Government has not revealed exactly why Lees-Galloway intervened in the case, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has said the public should “read between the lines” and pointed to previous Herald coverage of the case. National Party leader Simon Bridges has called for LeesGalloway to resign if he can’t justify the decision.

This week, the judge who gave Sroubek a second chance reiterated his belief in his story.

Sroubek’s guilty verdicts on the false passport charges in 2011 would normally lead to a conviction and jail sentence, in turn giving the Immigration Minister automatic grounds to deport Sroubek — without any avenue for appeal — for being convicted of holding a visa under a false identity.

But Judge Roy Wade discharged Sroubek without conviction — on completion of 200 hours of community work — so he could argue his case to stay and not be “removed from this country without proper procedure and review”.

Sroubek came to New Zealand from the Czech Republic in September 2003 to start a new life as Jan Antolik. He was 22 at the time, and said his family had been threatened by two police officers who wanted them 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, and fled the country with a doctored passport.

But he was unmasked in October 2009 when Czech police gave Auckland detectives details of his identity and an arrest warrant on minor charges in connection with the 2003 murder.

On hearing the evidence, Judge Wade was convinced that Antolik would still be in danger from corrupt Czech authorities and the man he helped convict of murder if he were deported back to the Czech Republic.

“I am satisfied that your initial false applications were as a result of you doing the right thing, not the wrong thing,” Judge Wade said in sentencing Sroubek in 2012.

“Furthermore, had you been frank with the authorities when you first came here, it seems plain that you would have been granted a work permit and, ultimately, residence in any event, on your own merits.”

Judge Wade was unaware Sroubek had been arrested as part of Operation Ark, a covert investigation into Ecstasy-like pills, just days after his false passport trial in 2011.

He was later convicted of being a party to the manufacture of Class-C controlled drugs, although the conviction was later overturned on a technicality.

Now retired, Judge Wade told the Herald he still believed Sroubek’s story about fearing for his life.

“It was all very suspicious that the Czech police sought an international arrest warrant for the most trivial of matters. Obviously keen to get him back,” said Judge Wade.

Just two years later, Sroubek was arrested and charged with smuggling 5kg of MDMA, better known as Ecstasy, from the Czech Republic.

Sroubek was found guilty by the jury in 2016 and sentenced to five years and nine months in prison.

Now 37, Sroubek is still in prison after failing to convince the Parole Board to release him early.

While it hasn’t been explicitly stated by Lees-Galloway, it seems he was persuaded to cancel the deportation of Sroubek because of his evidence about why he fled from the Czech Republic.