NAURU – New Zealand has justified its decision to grant citizenship to former Nauruan opposition MP Roland Kun, who was under a criminal investigation and prevented from leaving Nauru.

Kun had his passport confiscated last year after anti-government protests, which prevented him from seeing his Australian wife and three young children, who live in New Zealand.

He was able to slip out of Nauru for New Zealand via Australia on the weekend by travelling on a newly-issued New Zealand passport.

The former Nauru MP had applied for New Zealand citizenship in December under a humanitarian provision.

New Zealand’s Minister for Internal Affairs, Peter Dunne, told the ABC that Kun’s application was approved based on the “facts of the case”.

“The ultimate decision was mine and I had to do it according to the principles of the Citizenship Act and that’s exactly what I did,” Dunne said.

“So there was no attempt made to say there was a bigger political game here.”

“The case stands or falls on its own facts and I think that is appropriate because we don’t really take all those external factors into account – we look at whether the person qualifies under the provisions of the Act, and in this case I was satisfied that Mr Kun did.”

Kun was one of five opposition MPs who were unlawfully suspended from the Parliament in 2014.

In Kun’s case, the suspension was reportedly for speaking to the international media about the breakdown in the rule of law in Nauru.

The Nauru government said Kun’s passport was cancelled as he was under police investigation, although no charge has ever been laid against him.

As a result, Kun has been separated from his family – who have been in New Zealand since June last year – for more than a year.

His lawyer, Claudia Geiringer, said the Nauruan Government had become aware Kun had fled the country after Saturday’s general election.

Kun reportedly discreetly boarded a last-minute, outgoing flight to Brisbane on Sunday before continuing to New Zealand.

Geiringer, said settling in New Zealand had been the family’s intention for some time.

“They had already effectively left Nauru because Katy, his wife, was kicked out of the country by the government, although she entitled by right in the Constitution to Nauruan citizenship, her application for citizenship, made two years ago or longer, has never been determined,” she told RNZI.

Dunne, who was singled out for thanks in a statement released by Kun and his lawyer, said his department had been closely watching the situation.

“We were curiously interested to see what would happen once the passport was delivered to Mr Kun and whether he would be able to leave the country,” he said.

“We were interested from the point of view of bystanders at that stage.

“We were watching the situation with some interest and more than a little tension, but in the event he was able to leave unmolested.”

Ties between the two nations have been strained since New Zealand suspended aid to Nauru’s justice sector last year, citing a diminishing rule of law.

At the time, Nauru’s Government blamed Kun for the decision to suspend aid and said New Zealand’s move was “misguided”.

The government went on to say it had a right to investigate Kun for his alleged involvement in protests outside the country’s parliament. - PNC/ABC