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Minister confirms Karel Sroubek is liable for deportation

Author
Newstalk ZB ,
Publish Date
Wed, 28 Nov 2018, 12:58PM

Minister confirms Karel Sroubek is liable for deportation

Author
Newstalk ZB ,
Publish Date
Wed, 28 Nov 2018, 12:58PM

Karel Sroubek is now liable for deportation once he is released from prison. 

The Immigration Minister has made the announcement at a press conference held at Parliament today.

Iain Lees-Galloway has revealed details from a report called into the case of the Czech National, who was controversially granted residency last month.

Sroubek can still appeal the decision, and Lees-Galloway has been coy as to the reasons for deportation as he does not want to prejudice that case. 

He says that Sroubek no longer has residency. 

The Minister says that information revealed after the residency was granted have undermined Sroubek's claims.

This includes information from Interpol around Sroubek's travel plans. 

Lees-Galloway says that he granted residency under the information he had at the time, including that there was cause of concern for Sroubek's safety if he returned to Czech Republic.

He said that Sroubek did not have gang affiliations in New Zealand nor had shown any violence while in the country, and he had several letters backing his claim, including from his wife.

However, the Minister says that Sroubek did not have a right to hold a visa in the first place. 

Lees-Galloway says that the blame falls on him for the case, and that the Prime Minister has accepted his apology. 

However, he says he will not be resigning, and instead wants to stay and fix the problems with the residency process rather than running away. 

In October, the minister decided to cancel Sroubek's deportation liability and grant him residency under his real name despite Sroubek having gang associations and serving a prison term for smuggling MDMA.

He then ordered a review of the decision after a court document noted that Sroubek was twice granted leave to travel to Europe in 2009, which potentially contradicted the reasons why Lees-Galloway granted residency in the first place.

It is understood Sroubek's 2009 travel, under the name Jan Antolik, was not included in the original case file, and part of the reason for granting residency was due to fears for Sroubek's safety if he was deported.

More to come

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