Police grab drug smuggler’s cash

Drug smuggler Karel Sroubek was stripped of about $190,000 by the Police Commissioner, court documents show.

Sroubek is at the centre of a controversial decision by Immigration Minister Iain LeesGalloway, who granted the 37-year-old kickboxer residency despite him serving a prison sentence for importing ecstasy into the country.

Last year, the Commissioner of Police made an application to seize Sroubek’s assets under the Criminal Proceeds Recovery Act.

The law allows the police to target profits made by criminals and puts the onus on the criminal to prove their assets were acquired lawfully.

Court documents show Sroubek bought a house on Auckland’s North Shore for $490,000 in MDMA 2009, using mainly cash. He also paid the mortgage with cash.

Seven years later, Sroubek sold the property for $800,000.

After paying off the mortgage, Sroubek pocketed over $398,000.

He put $161,000 into a loan account in the name of his father and mother in-law, Alexander and Natalia Bozhenko.

They then reduced a loan they had for a property in Auckland’s upmarket suburb of Remuera.

Sroubek put the remaining $237,000 into a company account, Karan Trustee Ltd, which he was the sole director and shareholder of.

By the time the commissioner issued a freeze order on Sroubek’s assets, he had spent over $100,000 of the money, leaving $129,183.33 in the account.

The court documents show that when the commissioner applied for a freeze on the Bozhenkos’ home, the couple paid the Official Assignee $161,000, to avoid having their included in the order.

The four bedroom house has a current CV of $2.45 million.

It was on the market until earlier this week when realty firm Barfoot and Thompson removed it from its listings.

Lees-Galloway has ordered Immigration NZ to investigate Sroubek’s residency application to see if he received the correct information when making his decision. house