Convicted drug smuggler and former kickboxing champion Karel Sroubek will be deported after losing a long-running battle to stay in New Zealand.

The Czech national, also known as Jan Antolik, arrived in the country in 2003 on a false passport and was granted residence in 2008.

Shortly afterwards, he was jailed for five years and nine months for importing nearly 5kg of MDMA.

He faced deportation due to that conviction and for immigration fraud, but then-immigration minister Iain Lees-Galloway intervened and granted him residence for a second time.

It later emerged Sroubek was wanted by the Czech authorities for attacking police officers and a taxi driver, disorderly conduct and damaging property.

Following a public furore, Lees-Galloway reversed his decision and issued Sroubek with a new deportation liability notice. Sroubek then lodged an appeal on the facts, which was dismissed in August 2022, then on humanitarian grounds.

Immigration New Zealand also underwent an independent review into its processes following the case.

The Immigration and Protection Tribunal has now released its decision on the humanitarian appeal.

It declined Sroubek’s appeal and said he must leave the country by March.

Sroubek, who was released from prison on parole in 2020, told the tribunal he was now teaching kickboxing, hot boxing and yoga. He was also developing an app for personal trainers, which he would not be able to do in the Czech Republic.

He also reiterated previous claims that he had been pressured by corrupt Czech police to lie and clear the main suspect in a Prague murder investigation in 2003.

He feared he would be framed as an accessory to the murder on his return and sent to prison, where life would be “unimaginable”.

Sroubek said he had been the victim of a “media campaign and political witch hunt” and would have lived happily in New Zealand had the media not brought his case to light.

He also said he had formed a relationship with a New Zealand citizen, which he believed “brings out the best in him”, and was looking forward to a family life, with children. Deportation would separate him from his partner and he would be “sad and empty” without her.

He was also involved in High Court proceedings against his ex-wife and her family regarding his interest in a property in Remuera, which he would not be able to pursue from the Czech Republic, he said.

In response, counsel for Immigration Minister Michael Wood said Sroubek’s IT skills were transferable to the Czech Republic and the damage done by his offending outweighed any “emotional upset” deportation might cause to him or his partner.

The tribunal found the life Sroubek had established in New Zealand over the past 19 years meant, “by a narrow margin”, he had exceptional humanitarian circumstances.

However, given the seriousness of his crimes, it would not be unjust or unduly harsh to deport him.

It was also in the public interest that he be ordered to leave, as he had come to New Zealand “as a fugitive from justice”, the tribunal found.

It ordered that Sroubek’s deportation be delayed for three months so he can get his affairs in order, including matters relating to his business and the High Court proceedings, before he leaves.

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