Immigration NZ powers on hold after abuser story

The Government is acting after a Herald investigation, promising improvement to immigration standards for convicted criminals.

The Herald revealed yesterday that a man who had emigrated to New Zealand had twice been convicted of sex offending since his arrival in 2012, but wouldn’t be deported if his record stayed clean for the next five years.

Since Sultan Ali Abdul Ali Akbari arrived from his native Afghanistan he has sexually assaulted three victims, including two young girls.

Immigration Minister Michael Woodhouse said he would take steps to improve the decision-making authority for cases involving residence-class visa holders convicted of a criminal offence.

“I am temporarily suspending Immigration NZ’s decision-making authority until I have confidence that the decisions being made [involving offending of this nature] are consistent with my expectations.

“This course of action follows yesterday’s New Zealand Herald article regarding an individual whose liability for deportation was suspended, despite the severity of the offending.”

Woodhouse said he would likely return the decision-making authority to Immigration NZ within a fortnight, as long as he could be assured the process would meet his expectations.

A victims’ advocate says the decision on Akbari, who has now served prison time, is “outrageous”.

Immigration couldn’t confirm how many complaints it had received on the Akbari case, with an estimated 150,000 emails received per year.

The Herald received numerous responses yesterday calling for an investigation into the decision.

Act leader David Seymour said an explanation as to why Akbari wasn’t deported was in the public’s interest.

One man who contacted the Herald said he was dumbfounded by the decision, whilst he struggled to gain residency with a clean record.

Several said the decision was an insult to Kiwis and other immigrants.