Richard Worth

Wellington, July 3 NZPA - Police are expecting to say today whether a Korean woman has withdrawn a complaint former government minister Richard Worth.

A police spokeswoman refused to comment this morning.

When asked when they would comment, she told NZPA they would "assess it today".

The scandal involving the Korean woman, and another incident involving a woman member of the Labour Party, forced Dr Worth to resign as a minister on June 2 and 10 days later he quit Parliament.

It was confirmed that the Korean woman had laid a complaint of a sexual nature and the police opened an inquiry.

It was reported Dr Worth, who at the time was minister of internal affairs, invited the woman to a function in Wellington, booked a room at a hotel for her, and accompanied her to the hotel and that an incident in the hotel led to the woman's complaint.

TV3 News reported last night it had been informed by a source close to the Korean woman that she had dropped her complaint.

"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," TV3 said.

It also reported police had told the woman there was not enough evidence to take a case against Dr Worth, and that was another reason why she was dropping her complaint.

Dr Worth's cellphone had a recorded message on it saying the number was no longer being used.

The Korean woman was never identified by the media.

The other incident, which was not connected, involved Labour Party activist Neelam Choudary.

She told Labour leader Phil Goff that Dr Worth harassed her with dozens of text messages and phone calls, some of them vulgar, and offered her a job in his capacity as a minister.

Throughout it all, Dr Worth insisted he had broken no law.

He said he had no choice but to resign from Parliament because of the "avalanche of rumour and innuendo" surrounding him.

Dr Worth resigned as a minister after Mr Key told him he had lost confidence in him.

Mr Key has never disclosed details of exactly why he lost confidence in Dr Worth, despite close questioning in Parliament, and has only said the former MP's behaviour did not meet the standards he required from his ministers.