An NZ Christmas Karel
Czech folk hero St Wenceslas inspired a Christmas carol we all know. After Good King Wenceslas’ violent death, myths grew up around his good deeds; alms-giving to the mad, the bad and the poor.
The mad, bad (though certainly not poor) Czech fugitive Karel Sroubek found his own saintly benefactor in Iain Lees-Galloway, who virtuously waived his deportation liability.
Since the Star-Times revealed the Immigration Minister’s decision to grant residency to the drug-smuggler, his handling has graduated from negligent bungling to mercenary damage control.
In the hours before the story broke, there was a flurry of text messages between officials. ‘‘Article will likely run front page of Sunday Star-Times,’’ the PM’s Office was told. ‘‘I expect this to be a bit of a howler.’’
But despite Jacinda Ardern’s demand for a detailed briefing, Lees-Galloway seemed relaxed. ‘‘Sweet as,’’ he told an adviser.
So here’s why nobody should share his self-contentment. 1 Despite dancing on the head of a pin about Sroubek’s trip back to the Czech Republic, LeesGalloway’s advisers had briefed him that Sroubek was wanted by Interpol for assaulting a police officer, and on his multiple convictions in New Zealand. He simply didn’t read the briefing.
2 His supporters have blamed Sroubek’s estranged wife and other victims. One blames ‘‘a wife seeking the best slice of the matrimonial property’’; the Deputy Prime Minister calls her ‘‘a National Party informant’’. This, a woman hiding in fear of his gangland associates after he threatened her.
3 The minister dumped 1000 pages of documents on Friday, an hour before the Christmas shutdown.
Lees-Galloway treated Sroubek as if he were a homeless refugee fleeing persecution, not a criminal seeking a get-out-of-jail card. And indeed, Sroubek could yet apply for refugee status.
If he does, the minister will discover just how misplaced his virtuous grant of residency was. The Immigration Tribunal will be far less sympathetic than him to the pleas of a violent thug.