An alleged incident involving Green MP Golriz Ghahraman at a boutique Auckland clothing store happened just two days before Christmas, police have confirmed to Newstalk ZB. 

Yesterday afternoon, ZB Plus revealed Ghahraman had stood aside from her parliamentary portfolios after facing allegations of shoplifting from Ponsonby’s Scotties Boutique.

According to sources, Ghahraman is understood to have been accused of shoplifting thousands of dollars of goods during the festive season from the exclusive clothing store in the electorate of fellow Green MP Chloe Swarbrick.

The Green Party confirmed it was aware of the allegations that Ghahraman faces and that she "will stand aside from all portfolio responsibilities until the matter is resolved".

"Green MPs are expected to maintain high standards of public behaviour," the spokesperson said.

Talking to Summer Breakfast this morning, political commentator Brigitte Morton agreed it would be hard for the Green Party's PR team to spin the story into anything good.

"Everyone's gone a bit quiet, which probably indicates that they're presumably trying to work out what's happened and what the next steps are. "

ZB Plus approached Ghahraman for comment before the story broke, but she is yet to make any direct or public comment on the matter. Morton said the responsibility was now with the Green Party to send the right message.

She said the party took the correct first step ensuring she stepped away from her portfolio, including her role as the party's justice spokesperson.

"That clearly does not align with these current allegations," said Morton.

"But I think one of the main problems is always as soon as a story like this [breaks], particularly when it's a quiet political time and the summer period, lots of allegations and lots of discussion will fill that vacuum so they need to act quickly."

Asked if the shoplifting claims reflected worse on the Green MP than last year's drink-driving infringement notice served to former Minister of Justice, Kiri Allan that led to her standing down as an MP, Morton said the latter might be more incriminating.

However, she stressed it was important the truth came to light sooner rather than later.

"For most political parties, anything trapped on your key messages is going to be a massive problem," said Morton.

“Last year, the Greens had an issue around Elizabeth Kerekere and her calls [that] 'it was an epic failure of leadership' that led to her demise, so I think they're going to have a lot of internal questions to ask as well."

Morton said the Green Party, in the absence of any statement or comment from Ghahraman, will be working hard to get to the bottom of the allegations and determine what could be believed or not.

She said there would be an expectation the party would be working with police and Scotties Boutique staff to gain an understanding that will help inform their decisions.

Regardless of any conclusions, however, Morton believes Ghahraman's reputation will be tarnished.

"I think it's going to be difficult if they come out and say it was a misunderstanding or incorrectly accused, etcetera.”

"She's a senior experienced member of the Greens so she'll need to rebuild that credibility gap."