The Green Party says allowing a former member of the Fiji military to come to New Zealand to compete in the Rugby World Cup makes a mockery of this country's stance against the military regime.
The Government has granted Leone Nakarawa a temporary exemption from the travel sanctions against members of the regime.
Foreign Affairs Minister Murray McCully says Mr Nakarawa has resigned and been discharged from Fiji's armed forces.
However Green MP Keith Locke says there is no evidence he has distanced himself from the military regime.
Mr Locke believes Mr McCully has been hoodwinked into allowing Mr Nakarawa into the country.
"Now he seems to have accepted what you might call a Fiji military sidestep, where one of Colonel Bainimarama's men resigns from the military one day, is allowed to come here and play rugby the next week then presumably if he performs well, can go back, rejoin the military and perhaps be promoted."
A spokesperson for the Coalition for Democracy in Fiji says the organisation is more concerned about business people and former government officials being allowed to travel than it is about soldiers.
