The Richard Worth Saga

On June 3, National MP and minister for Internal Affairs, Land Information, Archives New Zealand, and the National Library Richard Worth, tendered his resignation for personal reasons.

It has since been revealed that Worth resigned due to allegations being investigated by the police which Key said regarded behaviour “not befitting a minister”.  It seems he may also have wanted to stand down before further news of his “making a nuisance of himself with women” broke, including allegations that he sent a woman numerous texts and called her repeatedly, and offered her a job in exchange for sexual favours.

Stuff.co.nz and the Herald reported that Phil Goff had gone to John Key two weeks prior to the news breaking with information about the woman’s allegations.

A statement tabled in parliament on June 4 detailed the complaints of one of Worth’s accusers who wished to remain anonymous in the press.

By June 6, the business woman whose allegations against Worth were under investigation by the police was being scrutinised by the media.  A Korean businessman claimed that the same woman made accusations of a similar nature about him in the past.

Editing the Herald Blog questioned some of the language used to describe the woman on The Herald’s front page on June 5, noting that “Political reporter Patrick Gower wastes no time in informing us of all the ethnic comings-and-goings of the case. I know that, whenever I hear of a political sex scandal, the first question that pops into my head is ‘What race are the people involved? Is there any miscegenation going on?’”

Right-wing blog, Whale Oil, “outed” Neelam Choudary as the woman who received texts and calls from Worth,

Stuff.co.nz published a provocative picture of Mrs Choudary (page now deleted), with a story about her husbands previous conviction of fraud.

Despite the fact that Ms. Choudry chose to withdraw her complaint against Richard Worth, Whale Oil continues to ask questions about Ms Choudary’s relationship with the leader of the Labour Party, Phil Goff.

On July 2 The Herald reported that the Korean Businesswoman whose complaint against Worth began the story was dropped by the police.

TV3 said: “She feels the political fallout around Richard Worth has been sufficient and going through the courts would have been an additional ordeal that would have gained little.”

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