Residency call under review
Under-fire Immigration Minister Iain Lees-Galloway is reconsidering his decision to grant residency to Karel Sroubek, a Czech kickboxing champ serving jail time for drug-smuggling.
Lees-Galloway, who has faced Opposition calls to resign over his handling of the situation, said he had received new information about the case since his decision to let Sroubek stay in New Zealand.
It includes claims Sroubek had travelled back to the Czech Republic despite claiming he fled that country in fear of his life in 2003 on a false passport.
“This is contradictory information. I have to check the veracity of this additional information.”
Sroubek’s former lawyer Simon Laurent said yesterday if it was proved Sroubek had returned to the Czech Republic since he had been in New Zealand, it would be “problematic”.
He told Newstalk ZB it was unusual that Lees-Galloway had received some “11th-hour information” as Sroubek’s case had been with Immigration New Zealand for a number of years.
“I would have thought that would have been the sort of thing Immigration NZ would have canvassed quite carefully,” he said.
New information has emerged that has forced Immigration Minister Iain Lees-Galloway to reconsider his decision to grant residency to Karel Sroubek, a Czech kick-boxing champ serving prison time for drugsmuggling.
It includes claims Sroubek had travelled back to the Czech Republic despite fleeing that country in fear of his life in 2003 on a false passport in the name of Jan Antolik.
Lees-Galloway, who until yesterday stood by his decision to use his power of “absolute discretion” to cancel Sroubek’s deportation liability and grant him residency under his real name, told Parliament: “Information may exist that directly contradicts information that I relied upon in making the decision relating to Karel Sroubek.”
He said it was not additional information. “This is contradictory information. This is a very serious matter. I have to check the veracity of this additional information.”
Sroubek’s former lawyer Simon Laurent said yesterday that if it was proved Sroubek had returned to the Czech Republic since he had been in New Zealand, it would be “quite problematic”.
He told NewstalkZB it was unusual that Lees-Galloway had received some “11th-hour information” as Sroubek’s case had been with Immigration New Zealand for a number of years.
“I would have thought that would have been the sort of thing Immigration NZ would have canvassed quite carefully,” he said.
“If he had been back to the Czech Republic, and that could be established beyond a doubt, then it would undermine the case for the Minister.”
National leader Simon Bridges branded Lees Galloway “incompetent and naive”, and demanded his resignation.
“If he’s been wrong here, if ultimately this man is to be deported, [Lees-Galloway] hasn’t got the judgment and the skills required in terms of keeping New Zealanders safe with these decisions and he should resign,” Bridges said.
Lees-Galloway has been under pressure since it emerged he granted residency to Sroubek despite the kick-boxer’s use of a false passport, association with the Hells Angels, and his 2016 conviction for importing 5kg of MDMA (ecstasy) for which he received a jail term of almost six years.
He has refused to say why he granted Sroubek residency. But in 2011 Judge Roy Wade, who discharged Sroubek without conviction over his use of a false passport, believed Sroubek would be in danger from corrupt Czech authorities if he were deported.
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said on Monday that people needed to “read between the lines” and look at previous coverage of the case to see why Lees-Galloway reached his original decision. Ardern told Parliament yesterday the decision was made on the information available at the time. “If there is information that contradicts that, I imagine the Minister would want to seek further advice on that,” she said.