Minister made call on Sroubek
The decision to grant Karel Sroubek residency rested solely on the Immigration Minister, new documents show.
But it has yet to be confirmed if Immigration Minister Iain Lees-galloway based his decision on any implications the convicted drug smuggler’s safety was at risk if he returned to the Czech Republic.
Immigration NZ general manager Stephen Dunstan told Stuff this month no recommendations were included in the file presented to the minister when considering the case, which Dunstan said was ‘‘at the absolute discretion of the decision-maker’’.
In written questions to Leesgalloway, National’s immigration spokesman Michael Woodhouse asked if INZ made a recommendation to the minister on the preferred course of action on Sroubek or under his false name, Jan Antolik, for deportation liability.
Lees-galloway replied, saying no and it was not the practice of INZ to provide advice, recommendations or opinions when presenting a deportation case to the minister.
Woodhouse also asked if the minister received options from INZ on the deportation liability. Lees-galloway responded saying INZ provided him with two sets of options for Sroubek’s case. The first set related to the possibility of deciding the case only based on criminal offending.
Those options were to: sign a deportation liability notice; cancel deportation liability; or suspend deportation liability.
The second set of options were to be used if liability was considered on the basis of both Sroubek’s criminal offending and for holding a visa under a false identity. Those options were to: sign deportation liability; cancel Sroubek’s deportation liability and grant him a resident visa in his true identity; or cancel Sroubek’s deportation liability and grant him a resident visa in his true identity subject to conditions.
A further question asks if Lees-galloway used ministerial discretion (as defined in the Immigration Act 2009) to grant any other individual residency, permanent residency, or any other class of visa since October 26, 2017.
The response reveals Leesgalloway used his absolute discretion to grant visas to individuals on 29 occasions.
The answers come days before Sroubek’s extended deadline to respond to the findings of an INZ investigation into his case. He has until Friday to comment on any possible decision before it is presented to the minister.
Stuff reported the file was hundreds of pages long, with a 12-page summary, which the minister subsequently said he had only read ‘‘aspects’’ of, in less than an hour.