A previous accusation by Worth accuser

The Herald reports:

A prominent member of the Korean community says he was once wrongly accused of inappropriate behaviour by the Korean complainant in the Richard Worth police investigation.

The man told the Weekend Herald the woman’s accusations, made in a Korean newspaper several years ago, were unfounded.

The man, who cannot be named because it would identify the complainant, said he was accused of having an inappropriate or dishonest relationship with the woman.

He said the article distressed his wife and children and he considered legal action but it was too expensive. “If it [the accusation] was true, why did she not go to police and court – why a newspaper?”

I’m not sure this affects the political problems for Worth, but it may well be a factor in whether the Police believe there was criminal offending.

Fran O’Sullivan makes this point:

But even if the police do not lay criminal charges – an outcome Key was hinting at – the allegations that Worth has been leveraging his official position to extract favours cannot simply be swept under the carpet.

This is not a matter of morality. Many marriages break up in Parliament and MPs stray from their partners and find new spouses.

But what doesn’t go with the territory are the allegations – made under Parliamentary privilege – that Worth also tried to extract sexual favours from an Indian woman for government-appointed positions.

The similiarity in both cases is that the role as an MP and Minister has been used to gain a conquest. Now again these are just allegations – and we are yet to hear from Dr Worth.