NZ politician resigns over sex allegations

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WELLINGTON - A New Zealand politician quit Parliament on Friday, nine days after he resigned as a government minister over sex allegations.

Since it was revealed that Mr Richard Worth was being investigated by the police over claims made by a Korean woman living in Auckland, other allegations have emerged that he pursued another woman with sexually explicit text messages and phone calls.

Mr Worth said on Friday that the decision to resign was in the best interests of Prime Minister John Key's National Party.

"It would be easy for me to be bitter about the avalanche of rumour and innuendo that has led me into making this decision, which I regard as being in the best interests of my party," he said in a statement.

He reiterated that he did not commit any crime and was confident he will be cleared of any criminal conduct.

Mr Key described Mr Worth's decision as a "sensible course of action".

The allegations that Mr Worth had sent "vulgar" text messages and made such phone calls were made by a woman in the opposition Labour Party. Mr Worth blamed a political conspiracy for his problems. AFP

From TODAY, World – Weekend, 13/14-Jun-2009

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