PM: ‘Read between lines’
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said the immigration minister faced a difficult decision over Karel Sroubek’s residency application.
reported on Sunday the convicted drug smuggler had been handed an unprecedented get-out-of-jail card in getting residency, instead of being deported after serving his prison sentence.
Immigration Minister Iain Lees-Galloway made the special decision, even though the 37-yearold Czech national came to New Zealand on a false passport and is now serving time in Auckland South prison for importing drugs with a street value of $375,000.
Ardern told reporters to ‘‘read between the lines’’ as to why Sroubek had been allowed to stay despite his crimes but would not give any detail on whether he was under threat in his homeland.
Ardern said ministers of both political stripes would have come across ‘‘rare’’ cases such as this.
Lees-Galloway has issued a statement saying the public interest in the case was deserving of further information.
Yesterday, he released his ‘‘final warning’’ letter to Sroubek, which communicates the strict conditions he must meet both short term and long term, and said ‘‘that in no way do I condone any of the behaviour that he is associated with’’, Lees-Galloway said. In the letter he states: ‘‘This is a very serious matter and I do not condone your behaviour.
‘‘I have given you one final chance to remain in New Zealand and this should serve as a clear warning to you.’’
Sroubek fled to New Zealand with a friend’s passport in 2003.
He claimed he was on the run from corrupt cops after witnessing a murder. Under the name Jan Antolik he built a new life as a businessman, a representative-level kickboxer, and a Hells Angels associate.
The letter, sent to Sroubek on September 19, states his residency depends on him presenting immigration with a valid travel document in his true identity within five months – otherwise the decision will be void and he will be deported.
It sets out the three conditions the visa is subject to, which include not getting convicted again once he is released from prison; not using any further fraudulent identity; and not providing false or misleading information or concealing any relevant information in his dealings with any government agency.
‘‘Any breach of these conditions is likely to lead to his deportation. As I have conveyed to him, I’ve given him one final chance to remain and live within our laws,’’ Lees-Galloway said in his statement.
For privacy and legal reasons, as was standard practice for all administrations, he could not disclose the details of the case, he said. ‘‘I can assure the public that this was a decision taken in full view of the information presented to me, and not a decision that I have made lightly.’’
Sroubek’s lawyer, Simon Laurent, declined to comment.
National’s justice spokesman Mark Mitchell and immigration spokesman Michael Woodhouse demanded an explanation.
Woodhouse said the letter contained standard conditions that would be included in absolutely every single case. Any suspended deportation liability would carry that condition.