A Christchurch man has lost his final bid to stay in New Zealand after a decade-long battle to avoid extradition to his native Poland.
Slawomir Ryszard Bujak's legal wrangling began when Polish authorities claimed he was a multimillion-dollar fraudster, issuing a freezing order on his property which was registered in New Zealand as a foreign restraining order.
Bujak challenged the orders as far as the Supreme Court and failed at every step.
He then sought to prevent the Minister of Internal Affairs from determining whether he should be surrendered to the Polish authorities, and was again unsuccessful.
In November last year the minister, Nathan Guy, decided Bujak should be surrendered to Poland.
Bujak issued judicial review proceedings challenging the decision, but his claims were dismissed as far as the Court of Appeal.
In a last-ditch attempt, Bujak appealed to the Supreme Court, where he argued the minister had failed to take humanitarian concerns into account in his decision.
In a judgment issued today, the Supreme Court rejected Bujak's plea, agreeing with the Court of Appeal that the minister was not obliged to take humanitarian concerns into account.
Bujak was ordered to pay costs of $2500.
