Moment a Liberal Party MP gets into the lift of a New York hotel with two men and heads up to his room after calling an escort service – before ‘they attempted to extort $1,000 from him’
- CCTV footage emerged of New South Wales Liberal Gareth Ward in New York
- South Coast MP seen getting out of a lift in Manhattan’s Intercontinental hotel
- Insisted he called for a massage despite record showing escort agency dialled
An MP who rang an escort agency’s number on the night he was subjected to blackmail insists he had simply wanted a massage in his New York hotel room.
New South Wales Liberal Gareth Ward was captured on CCTV in August last year getting into a lift on the 33rd floor of the Intercontinental in Manhattan with two black men wearing caps and white T-shirts.
The state member for Kiama, on the state’s south coast, told the New York Police Department the men had tried to extort $1,000 from him after the vision-impaired politician had asked them to leave his hotel room.
The footage showed him in the lift moments before he ran to a concierge desk to alert police of the blackmail attempt, after the men had walked with him to an ATM.
Albino MP Gareth Ward (left with Premier Gladys Berejiklian) who rang an escort agency’s number on the night he was subjected to blackmail insists he had simply wanted a massage
While that police report listed a phone call from the MP to an escort service number, Mr Ward said he had simply called that number for a massage.
‘I’d been walking all day, sightseeing, it was self-funded,’ the albino MP told Daily Mail Australia on Wednesday.
‘I have in the past got massages where I’ve gone because that’s what often people will do and there was nothing untoward about what I did.’
The parliamentary secretary, who hails from the Liberal Party’s moderate faction, said the number he had called was linked to various non-sexual services and insisted he had not broken any laws in New York, where it is illegal to solicit an escort.
New South Wales Liberal Gareth Ward was captured on CCTV (pictured) in August last year getting into a lift on the 33rd floor of the Intercontinental in Manhattan with two black men
Mr Ward (left) argued he had asked them to leave after realising the men (pictured) were not offering a therapeutic massage
‘If I was doing anything dodgy, I wouldn’t have called the cops,’ Mr Ward said.
‘From what I gathered, that number was linked to many websites, that’s certainly not what I was calling for.’
He argued he had asked them to leave after realising the men were not offering a therapeutic massage.
‘That’s what happened,’ he said.
The factional powerbroker was accused of bullying in September by retiring federal Liberal MP Ann Sudmalis, who made a series of allegations under parliamentary privilege.
The member for Kiama (pictured in Parliament) told New York police the men had tried to extort $1,000 from him after he had asked them to leave his hotel room
Mr Ward said it was curious The Daily Telegraph was publishing a new twist on a 16-month-old story on Tuesday as the Liberal Party prepared to hold a preselection meeting to decide the next Liberal candidate for Ms Sudmalis’ seat of Gilmore.
‘You know what’s happening tonight? The Gilmore endorsement,’ he said.
‘This is a rehash of a s*** story and I’m not going to give it any credibility by commenting any further.’
The unmarried 37-year-old state MP said he was glad he had reported the matter to New York police, even though embarrassing aspects of the complaint were made publicly available.
‘I reported the matter to police and I’m pleased that I did,’ he said.
‘The police said it was a legitimate complaint and the case is closed.’
Mr Ward is running for re-election at the March state election in a beach-side seat which is famous for having a blowhole.