Wellington - A mother of two alleged to have been hounded
with 'sleazy' text messages and phone calls from a disgraced New
Zealand government minister was named in news reports Wednesday as
Neelam Choudary.
Richard Worth, a former lawyer who has been a member of parliament
for 10 years, resigned as minister of internal affairs last week
after Prime Minister John Key told him to go or be sacked.
Worth, who is married with an adult daughter, is the subject of
complaints by two women - Choudary, who is a prominent member of the
opposition Labour Party, and an unnamed Korean businesswoman who has
alleged an unwanted sexual encounter with him that is being
investigated by police.
Worth denied committing any offence in a statement issued by a
public relations company and has been granted leave from parliament.
Key said this week he did not want Worth back in his government
and made it clear he would like him to resign from the House of
Representatives regardless of the outcome of the police investigation.
Choudary has written a letter to Key outlining some of the 40 text
messages and 60 phone calls - some 'vulgar, sexually explicit and I
believe were made when he was drunk' - she said Worth made to her
between November and February.
'On one occasion he asked me if I prayed for something to happen
to my husband so we could be together,' she wrote in a letter tabled
in Parliament last week.
Choudary said that Worth had offered her two jobs but she
'repeatedly made it clear to him that I didn't want a relationship
with him.'
Appealing for her privacy to be respected, Labour Party leader
Phil Goff said on Wednesday, 'She has done nothing wrong. She has
quite rightfully brought to my attention and to John Key's attention
that job offers were being made which appear to have been made to
further a sexual and romantic relationship.'
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