A Korean woman who laid a complaint of a sexual nature against former government minister Richard Worth has withdrawn her complaint, police confirmed today.
Dr Worth resigned as a minister on June 2 and quit 10 days later after the scandal involving the Korean woman and another incident involving a woman from the Labour Party.
A Wellington police spokeswoman said today the criminal complaint against Dr Worth had been formally withdrawn.
"At no time did police suggest to the complainant that she should withdraw her complaint.
"Police will need to assess all the information we have to bring the file to a state of finality." Dr Worth, who at the time was minister of internal affairs, allegedly invited the Korean woman to a function in Wellington, booked a room at a hotel for her, and accompanied her to the hotel. An incident in the hotel led to the woman's complaint.
TV3 News reported last night a source close to the Korean woman said she felt the political fallout had been "sufficient and going through the courts would have been an additional ordeal that would have gained little".
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.
Since leaving Parliament Dr Worth has avoided the public eye. He released two press releases, one of them announcing his resignation from Parliament. He has not commented on the complaint being dropped.
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.
He said only that the former MP's behaviour did not meet the standards he required from his ministers.
