Ching won't rejoin list despite retraction

Businessman Steven Ching is staying off the Labour Party's list.

Mr Ching stepped aside almost two months ago from his winnable No 42 place after claims in the Herald on Sunday that he had offered to help Auckland broadcaster Paul Liu to become a justice of the peace and had asked Mr Liu to lend him $50,000.

It was expected Mr Ching would be reinstated after the paper retracted the allegation at the weekend.

But Labour president Mike Williams said it was not in the best interests of the party or the country for Mr Ching to stay as a list candidate.

He said Mr Ching was an honourable man who had been subjected to scurrilous rumours and innuendo.