Steven Ching (right) campaigning yesterday with John Tamihere (centre) and Dover Samuels (in light hat at rear). Picture / Paul Estcourt

Steven Ching (right) campaigning yesterday with John Tamihere (centre) and Dover Samuels (in light hat at rear). Picture / Paul Estcourt

The man on track to become Labour’s first Chinese MP was yesterday forced to stand down while police investigate serious allegations he misused Government connections.

In the latest in a string of embarrassments for the Labour Party, list candidate Steven Ching was asked to stand down over claims that he offered to get a man appointed as a justice of the peace in exchange for a $50,000 loan.

The Herald on Sunday yesterday claimed that Mr Ching told Auckland broadcaster Paul Liu he would get two senior Labour MPs to sign his application form to become a JP.

In exchange, Mr Liu was asked to give a $50,000 loan to Mr Ching.

Mr Ching denied the claims.

Yesterday morning Mr Ching - number 42 on the Labour list - was out on the campaign trail with MPs Dover Samuels and John Tamihere, but by mid-morning he had been asked to stand down as the Labour Party handed the matter over to the police to investigate.

Party president Mike Williams has written to the Herald on Sunday asking that all its affidavits be sent to the police and the Labour Party.

Mr Ching, 63, denied the allegations and said he was confident police would clear his name in time for him to stand in the election.

"I intend to sue the Sunday Herald [sic] because they are reporting rubbish things."

He issued a written statement, signed by Mr Liu, which said the allegations were not true.

"Mr Ching did ask to borrow money from me for a revolving fund," the statement said, "but his request was absolutely no connection with the JP’s application he proposed to me.

"There were totally two different issues, and obviously, the writer had put them together."

It is not Mr Ching’s first brush with controversy. In the past month he was forced to resign as a justice of the peace after Herald on Sunday investigations found he had two undisclosed convictions under the Fisheries Act.

Mr Ching had also pleaded guilty to obstructing a fisheries officer in 2001 and was discharged without conviction.

Despite the revelations, Labour initially stood by Mr Ching, who is highly regarded for his ability to draw donations from Auckland’s Asian community and attract their votes.

Mr Williams said the convictions were minor and the party had accepted that Mr Ching did not know about them because they were handled by his lawyer.