Sroubek faced being deported by Nat Govt

Judges in Czech’s driving cases said ministers ‘yet to make decision’. By Edward Gay .

Czech fugitive Karel Sroubek faced deportation by the last Government – but the former minister says the file never reached his desk.

The High Court granted the Sunday Star-Times access to Sroubek’s criminal files, which revealed that in the early hours of July 6, 2012, Sroubek was pulled over by the police. He refused a breath test and blood sample, later telling the court he ‘‘freaked out’’, fearing he would be deported.

Judge Tony Fitzgerald ruled Sroubek had made a mistake in refusing to give the sample. ‘‘Technically, it puts you at risk of deportation, but you were already at risk of that in any event, because of the way in which you obtained residency. The Minister is yet to make a decision on that issue.’’

That was a week before National MP Michael Woodhouse was appointed Immigration Minister – but yesterday, Woodhouse said the matter never came to any National Government immigration ministers. ‘‘It never happened on our watch.’’

Sroubek, a kickboxer born in the Czech Republic, was found guilty in 2011 of four charges of supplying false information and one of possessing a false passport.

At his trial, Sroubek told the court corrupt police officers asked him to change his evidence after he’d witnessed a murder.

Instead, he borrowed a friend’s passport, escaped to Germany where he recorded his evidence on video, sent it to the Czech court and fled to New Zealand.

His lawyer, David Jones QC, asked for a discharge without conviction, arguing convictions would make it easier for immigration authorities to deport Sroubek and that would be out of all proportion to the crime.

In granting the discharge without conviction, the judge said: ‘‘That will not ultimately prevent your deportation if the Minister, at the end of the day, considers that is the right thing to do, because of course, whatever order I make today, the Immigration authorities are well aware of your offending in any event.’’

The following year, Sroubek was arrested after refusing to give a blood sample to the police and repeated his story to Judge Fitzgerald, who instead said a discharge without conviction would not prevent Sroubek from being deported ‘‘if the Minister, at the end of the day, considers that is the right thing to do.’’

Sroubek was fined $200 and disqualified from driving for six months.

Woodhouse says no file ever reached a National minister because a file is not referred while the applicant is facing charges and, from at least 2011 on, Sroubek was ‘‘always up for something’’.

Court action meant a minister didn’t see the case until Iain LeesGalloway was given the file in September this year.

‘‘Immigration authorities are well aware of your offending in any event.’’ Judge Tony Fitzgerald on Karel Sroubek, left