Transcript
FLORENCE SYME BUCHANAN: The first being to leave the country voluntarily and then he would be able to return perhaps in a year or two and that's at the discretion of the principal immigration officer, or face the consequences of deportation. I've done some research, and as far as I know, there's only been one other person who has ever been deported from the Cook Islands and that was an African con artist.
DON WISEMAN: So why do they want him out of the country?
FSB: Well Mr Franklin did serve a six month prison sentence here for minor drug-related convictions. He was let out on good behaviour and the sentence was reduced to six months.
DW: That was some time ago.
FSB: Indeed. He was released in 2014 and between 2014 and just recently he's been able to move freely between New Zealand and the Cook Islands. He's based on the main island of Rarotonga and has been in a steady long-term relationship for the past 7 years. So Mark Franklin, as a former New Zealand police detective, has very good investigative skills. So he was asked by a friend, the former minister Teina Bishop, if he would have a role in his case as an investigator. So Mark took up that offer to help but he warned by a minister of the crown that if he got involved with the Teina Bishop case that there would be repercussions and those repercussions would affect his immigration status here and during the time that Mr Franklin was investigating in the Bishop case assisting Mr Bishop that's when the immigration department started turning the heat up on his immigration status. Teina Bishop was a strong political force in the country, so that's no doubt why Mr Franklin was warned not to assist Bishop in any way by his friend who is also a cabinet minister. One thing that I've also been told is that a current senior police officer who was involved on the prosecution side investigating the Teina Bishop case, he has also been pressuring immigration to get rid of Mr Franklin.
DW: Alright, so does he have any comeback at all? Is he going to be protesting this from New Zealand?
FSB: His partner, when they met with the principal immigration officer, asked 'when could Mr Franklin return to the Cook Islands?' The principal immigration officer allegedly gave her a very vague response of maybe one year or maybe two years and Mr Franklin can then reapply to re-enter the Cook Islands. This is quite devastating for the couple, not being given a certain time period when he is required to remain out of the Cook Islands, and so the partner has decided that she will follow Mark and go to New Zealand.