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British man not allowed in NZ after Scientology 'espionage'

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Wed, 04 May 2011 9:20a.m.

A British man who failed to disclose he had been imprisoned for "industrial espionage" against the Church of Scientology in Denmark has been refused permission to settle in New Zealand.

Robin Scott, 62, and his wife Adrienne, 61, left their Canterbury organic farm in March after the Immigration and Protection Tribunal turned down an appeal against a direction for them to leave New Zealand, The Dominion Post newspaper reported.

In his visitor and work visa application in 2005 Mr Scott failed to disclose he had spent a month in a Danish prison before being deported in 1984.

He told authorities of the "industrial espionage" charge only four years later.

In the incident, Mr Scott waited outside a scientology property in Copenhagen while two others disguised as senior church officials entered and left with teaching materials.

A former church member, Mr Scott intended to use the materials in a business he had set up for those wanting to study scientology from outside the organisation.

The couple both admitted in their 2005 application they had served prison sentences in the 1990s for cannabis charges while living in Britain.

Mrs Scott had been accepted for registration as a teacher in New Zealand, despite the cannabis charges.

NZPA

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Comments

23 Jul 2011 11:03a.m.

scott crowe wrote:

What is your take on bi sexuality as i wish to take up scientology as my preferred religeon

17 Jun 2011 12:28p.m.

Ykeaton wrote:

Guys! Robin comitted a crime in order to help people. He is not a criminal.

06 May 2011 04:07p.m.

Terryeo wrote:


Well may the farce be with you, Luke! What you've said just tells me that you've never researched any of those other sources. If Louanne can't even fool people with her sock-puppets I'd say Scientologists superiority over anyone is in question. What happened to the first "clear", John McMaster,Luke? Why is he never mentioned in Scientology?

06 May 2011 12:17p.m.

Luke wrote:

Terryeo... you so havent read scientology... its impossible to put together that much information from other sources... there is too much...

06 May 2011 09:36a.m.

Terryeo wrote:


Mana Nui, aka Louanne, worked a "succes story" into her post, there aren't 100,000 Scientologists in the whole world, much less Los Angeles.

05 May 2011 12:33p.m.

Terryeo wrote:


Louanne has also failed to mention her criminal past, she's been convicted of drinking and driving in the state of Michigan. Personally I'd rather see someone sit home and smoke a joint then drive around drunk and kill someone. Scientology's "technology" is a load of codswallop, the only thing Scientology produces are people who have a love, or what seems like an addiction almost, of being dishonest.

05 May 2011 09:48a.m.

Stush wrote:

If you commit crimes, you get ongoing punishments. Because you know you deserve them! It was by Scott's own work that he knowingly omitted criminal information from his application. He thereby committed another "crime-let." Like the criminal who knowingly leaves behind a fingerprint, Scott did not feel he had been adequately punished for his earlier betrayals of faith and crime. So he set up a chain of events to further punish himself. If that's how Karma works, then it's fearsome and inescapable. His hiding it also shows he was not internally repentant for his crime. So this is a true and just legal punishment.

05 May 2011 05:45a.m.

Gitsby wrote:

"A British man who failed to disclose he had been imprisoned for "industrial espionage" against the Church of Scientology in Denmark has been refused permission to settle in New Zealand."

Maybe he is not criminal anymore, maybe he does not propagate drugs anymore but he is still lying about himself and his intentions. I understand that immigration didn't trust him.

05 May 2011 01:32a.m.

Gunnar René Øie wrote:

You can read more about Scott's escapades in chapter four of Jon Atack's book A Piece of Blue Sky. It's a fascinating look at Scientology's "civil war" with itself. Let this be a lesson to you: Disclose everything on security clearance and immigration forms. Often it's not what you've done which is the biggest problem, but that you fail to disclose it.

04 May 2011 08:31p.m.

man nui wrote:

Mana Nui reponds: I am a pure breed Kiwi, born in the King Country and proud of my homeland--Aotearoa. Yes, I am a Scientologist so are millions of others and proud of it. Yes I work in LA, so do about 100,000 other Scientologist--by the way hundreds of Kiwis too. I saw the article, I wrote what I wrote. Those Kiwis familiar with the terms "back home" when referring to the English that come to NZ know what I mean--do you? I doubt it, as it seems you are some sort of troll.