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 New Zealand 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.
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 travelled to.
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 under way and is expected to report back in March next year.
Sroubek to appeal - lawyer
The lawyer for Karel Sroubek says information that Lees-Galloway has used to reverse his decision and deport Sroubek could be an “administrative error” in which old information was presented to him as new.
Paul Wicks QC told The New Zealand Herald he had phoned Sroubek today, shortly before Lees-Galloway publicly revealed he had reversed his original decision to grant the Czech drug smuggler residency under his real name and cancel deportation liability.
Wicks said Sroubek was disappointed but would appeal against the decision to the Immigration and Protection Tribunal. He believed the new information on which Lees-Galloway made his fresh decision was the result of an “administrative error”.
Lees-Galloway said today that the new information he had received included some from Interpol confirming details of Sroubek’s convictions in the Czech Republic, the fact he was present in court when found guilty and that he appealed against the verdict to the highest court in the Czech Republic.
The case file provided to the Minister contains a clause which says: “Mr Sroubek is also wanted by the Czech authorities for service of 54 months’ imprisonment in connection with an incident on 28 June 1999, in which he attacked a grievously injured two police officers and another incident on 4 October 1999 where he attacked a taxi driver.
“It is understood Mr Sroubek was convicted on 12 February 2002 of disorderly conduct, damaging of another’s property and attacking a law enforcement officer.”
Wicks said the deportation was made on a new ground that relied on a purported new conviction and sentence of four years and six months in the Czech Republic.
“Certainly there was information, as I understand it, before the Minister that Mr Sroubek was wanted by Czech authorities to serve 54 months in prison, which is four years and six months, in connection which he’s alleged to have attacked and injured two police officers.
“My position is that that conviction and sentence was at least in the material before the minister and the question may be asked as to why the potential issue of administrative error was not raised at the time by Immigration,” Wicks said.
A spokesman for the Minister directed inquiries to Immigration New Zealand.
Immigration NZ review
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.
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.
