Burnaby, B.C. jeweler Shahraz Kassam says MP Svend Robinson, who admitted to "pocketing" a $50,000 ring last week, was shopping at his store for an expensive ring two days before the shoplifting incident.

Kassam told CTV News that he helped Robinson design a diamond ring, and the custom made ring would have cost $10,000.

It was apparently a wedding or engagement ring.

"We talked a little bit about the commitment his partner had given him and the support his partner had given him, and it was commendable," Kassam said. "And he felt it was time to make it official."

Robinson's partner, Max Riveron, was at the MP's side during Thursday's stunning news conference. That's when Robinson made his confession, that he had taken a $50,000 ring from an auction house on April 9, only to report the incident to police four days later.

At the news conference, the 25-year veteran of the NDP caucus spoke of suffering tremendous stress. He would be taking medical leave and stepping aside from his campaign for re-election in the suburban Vancouver riding of Burnaby-Douglas.

Kassam, who owns a jewelry store in Robinson's Burnaby riding, believes that in not mentioning the earlier shopping trip, the MP left out an important part of his story.

Robinson wasn't talking to the media this weekend, but supporter Libby Davies, an NDP MP in a nearby Vancouver riding, spoke for him.

"This is spinning in all different directions, and obviously in an attempt to smear Svend," she told CTV News.

Earlier, another NDP MP, Lorne Nystrom, says he doesn't expect the incident to affect his party's re-election chances.

"It is a personal tragedy," Nystrom said in an interview with CTV's Question Period on Sunday.

"All of us, under certain circumstances, crack and do something that's really strange and weird."

The incident has sparked a national debate over how Robinson's crime is handled, while the auction house has already declared it won't be pressing criminal charges.

Whether Robinson is ultimately charged is up to Len Doust, a special prosecutor appointed Friday by the B.C. government.