Deportation order still ‘pending’

The Czech Republic has not requested to extradite Karel Sroubek because it understands a deportation order ‘‘is pending’’ with Immigration New Zealand.

Sroubek, a drug smuggler at the centre of a controversial residency application, is serving five years and nine months in a New Zealand prison for importing 5kg of MDMA ecstasy. Despite his conviction, Sroubek was granted residency by Immigration Minister Iain Lees-Galloway.

But Sroubek is also wanted in his birth country, the Czech Republic, for injuring a police officer, disorderly conduct and damaging property.

The Czech Republic Consul General to New Zealand, Hana Flanderova told Stuff that Czech authorities were not trying to extradite Sroubek because he was the subject of a deportation order. ‘‘We are informed by the New Zealand authorities that the deportation order is still pending,’’ she said from her Sydney office yesterday. However, the minister’s office says no further decision over Sroubek’s future has been made. A spokesman said any future action depended on the outcome of an Immigration NZ investigation.

Flanderova said she was being kept up to date on the case by the Czech Republic’s Ministry of Justice which was in regular contact with its counterparts in New Zealand.

She said staff in her office had offered support to Sroubek but he had declined the offer of assistance.

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

The investigation is being carried out by Immigration NZ’s compliance team. It’s understood they will examine new allegations that Sroubek had already travelled to the Czech Republic since arriving in New Zealand and that his ex-wife no longer supported his application.