Yarra City councillor Stephen Jolly has quit the Socialist Party.Credit:Pat Scala
Cr Jolly toldThe Age that he had done nothing wrong and lashed his former comrades for moving against him when he had not been charged or even arrested.
The Socialists say their 2018 state election star candidate chose to resign of his own volition and that his denials of wrongdoing were"not credible".
"Information we have learned ... warrants immediate suspension and that expulsion would have followed unless he presented evidence substantiating his denial,"the party said in its statement.
"Instead of doing so,he chose to resign."
Cr Jolly emphatically denied that he was guilty of criminal conduct or any wrongdoing.
"I am restricted in what I can say legally about this matter,"he said.
"I have not been charged with anything,I have not pleaded guilty to anything,nor have I been found guilty of anything.
"I have done nothing wrong and am most disappointed in the Victorian Socialist Executive’s decision to comment publicly on the matter."