Czech drug dealer Karel Sroubek liable for deportation after residency review

Czech drug dealer Karel Sroubek is liable to be deported after a firestorm of criticism that embarrassed the Government.

The Immigration NZ review of the case found that Sroubek may be liable for deportation, Immigration Minister Ian Lees-Galloway said today.

Lees-Galloway said he had apologised to Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern over his handling of the matter.

The new information included that Sroubek was convicted in the Czech Republic, but Immigration NZ did not know this because Sroubek came to New Zealand under a different name.

Sroubek, now liable for deportation, will have to be deported after finishing his NZ sentence for drug dealing and will not be allowed to return to this country.

He has a right to appeal to the Immigration and Protection Tribunal.

Sroubek's lawyer Paul Wicks QC confirmed he would appeal against the decision.

Wicks told the Herald he had phoned Sroubek shortly before Lees-Galloway publicly revealed his decision to reverse his original decision.

He said Sroubek was disappointed but would appeal against the decision to the Immigration and Protection Tribunal.

"He has the ability to appeal the decision to the IPT on the facts and on humanitarian grounds. He can rely on those humanitarian grounds that have effectively previously been accepted and he can raise matters of fact," Wicks said.

Lees-Galloway said Sroubek claimed that he was in danger if he was deported back to the Czech Republic. He had put weight on Judge Roy Wade, who dismissed Sroubek's conviction on the basis that Sroubek was in danger if he were deported.

Sroubek's original case file included that Sroubek had travelled in and out of New Zealand, but not where he had traveled to.

Immigration Minister Iain Lees-Galloway has apologised to PM Jacinda Ardern over his handling of the case.

Evidence that Sroubek returned to the Czech Republic, though in public court documents, was not in the original case file.

Lees-Galloway said he had to weigh the danger to Sroubek if he were deported, against the danger Sroubek presented to the public in New Zealand if he stayed.

He said he gave weight to a letter from Sroubek's wife that painted a picture that Sroubek's risk of reoffending was in the past and he had a low risk of violent offending.

He said in the end he decided that Sroubek was not a high risk and decided to grant residency, but knowing about Sroubek's past convictions would have helped.

Lees-Galloway said the ultimately decision lay with him, and trust and confidence in the system had been damaged, hence his apology to Ardern.

"Public trust and confidence has been damaged. As Minister, I take responsibility for that."

But he said it was now his responsibility to fix what was wrong. He has not offered his resignation.

A review of how to deal with case files is underway and is expected to report back in March.

Immigration NZ boss Greg Patchell said information in court documents that Sroubek had travelled back to Europe in 2009 was in a case where Sroubek was acquitted, and was therefore not admissible to the minister in making the decision.

The process was now being reviewed, he said.

Patchell said the Interpol information about past convictions and current charges against Sroubek were available, but not relevant to Sroubek's deportation liability - only the conviction for smuggling MDMA was.

Lees-Galloway clarified that it was the convictions in the Czech Republic - information that was not available to him when he made his decision - that means that Sroubek never had a right to hold a visa in the first place.

"I had different information available to me that led to a different conclusion."

He did not think it was necessary to look at past decisions, given that he now thinks that process needs to be improved.

The original case file also did not include Sroubek's gang associations with Hells Angels, Lees-Galloway said.

"He doesn't have residency now because he has not produced a valid travel document. But this deportation decision essentially overrides that."

Patchell said that Sroubek could appeal to the Immigration and Protection Tribunal on questions of process and on humanitarian grounds.

Pending an appeal, Sroubek would be removed from the country at the conclusion of his prison sentence.

Patchell said that officials at Immigration NZ will not be fired over what had happened.

The minister said he had total confidence in Immigration officials, but the process had to be improved.

National Leader Simon Bridges called again for Lees-Galloway to resign.

"He has put at risk the safety of New Zealanders because he didn't do his job properly and read the file – all of which he should now put in the public domain so the public can judge for themselves," Bridges said.

"Mr Lees-Galloway has lost all credibility, undermined our immigration system and made New Zealanders less safe. He should resign."

Case history

Lees-Galloway had cancelled Sroubek's deportation liability in September and granted him residency in his real name, even though Sroubek had gang associations and is in prison for smuggling MDMA.

Earlier this month, the minister ordered a review of the decision after a court document noted that Sroubek twice travelled to Europe in 2009, which potentially contradicted the reasons why he was granted residency in the first place.

Sroubek's case has dominated political headlines this month as the National Party has called for Lees-Galloway to be sacked for what they say was an incompetent decision.

Lees-Galloway came under intense pressure after he conceded that he made the decision on Sroubek in 45 minutes and did not read the entire case file.

Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has stood by her minister throughout the saga, expressing full confidence in him and saying that the process around these cases needed to be improved.

Immigration NZ investigated the case in the previous weeks and handed the case back to the minister at the start of this week.

National MPs have used Question Time this month to reveal that a house that Sroubek claimed a financial interest in was allegedly burgled, that Sroubek had allegedly made threatening phone calls to his estranged wife, and that a man and his family were put into a witness protection programme due to alleged actions by Sroubek - in a court case where he was acquitted.

Sroubek released a statement saying he had nothing to do with the alleged burglary, and that the key witness in the trial that involved the witness protection programme was discredited.

Sroubek's mother Mila Sroubkova has came out in support of her son, telling Radio NZ's Checkpoint that her son was not a gangster and pleading to Lees-Galloway to give her son one final chance.

She also confirmed that Sroubek travelled to the Czech Republic in 2009 for one night, leaving after his family told him to go for his own safety.

Timeline

2003: Karel Sroubek flees Czech Republic as witness to a murder. Enters New Zealand with false passport in name of Jan Antolik. Later gains residency and represents his new country as a kickboxer.

2009: True identity discovered when Czech police contact their counterparts in NZ.

2010: Arrested with two Hells Angels gang members on aggravated robbery and blackmail charges. Acquitted on all charges.

2011: Jury finds him guilty of using false passport and giving false details to Immigration officials. Arrested soon after as part of Operation Ark, a covert investigation into Ecstasy-like pills.

2012: Judge discharges him without conviction on false identity charges so Antolik is not automatically deported.

2014: Convicted of manufacturing Class-C drug from Operation Ark arrest. Conviction overturned but Crown abandons second trial. A few months later, arrested importing 5kg of MDMA, a Class-B controlled drug, used in Ecstasy.

2016: Convicted of importing MDMA and jailed for five years and nine months, but identity kept secret by sentencing judge.

2017: Name suppression lifted.

2018, Sept 17: Parole Board declines early release.

Sept 19: Immigration Minister Iain Lees-Galloway cancels Sroubek's deportation, grants resident visa in his real name with conditions.

Oct 26: Sroubek claims financial interest in $2.3 million Remuera property, which is allegedly burgled a few days later.

Nov 1: Lees-Galloway says he did not know of court documents showing Sroubek had returned to Europe in 2009. Orders Immigration NZ to investigate.

Nov 6: National reveals court documents that show a man and his family were in a witness protection programme because of alleged actions by Sroubek and two other men with connections to the Hells Angels.

Nov 8: National alleges during Question Time that Sroubek made a threatening phone call to his estranged wife on May 3.

Nov 8: Sroubek releases statement saying he had nothing to with the alleged house burglary, and was acquitted in the trial that involved the witness protection programme.

Nov 8: Pressure intensifies on Lees-Galloway after he concedes he didn't read the entire Sroubek case file and made his decision in under an hour. National calls for his resignation.

Nov 9: Jacinda Ardern continues to have confidence in Lees-Galloway, but wants the process around deciding these cases improved.

Nov 13: Sroubek's mother Mila Sroubkova tells Radio NZ's Checkpoint that her son is not a gangster, and fears for his safety if deported are very real.

Nov 27: Jacinda Ardern says Lees-Galloway's job is safe and expects to release a decision on Sroubek imminently.