The leader of Norway's far-left Red Party Bjørnar Moxnes resigned on Monday after being caught stealing designer sunglasses from a shop at Oslo airport.
“I made a big mistake and made things even worse by the way I handled it afterwards,” Moxnes wrote on his Facebook page. “I am very sorry and would like to apologise."
On June 30, Moxnes said he had been fined 3,000 kroner (€250) for taking Hugo Boss sunglasses, worth 1,199 kroner (about €100), from a duty-free shop at Oslo airport two weeks earlier without paying.
The 41-year-old politician had claimed he was absent-minded but changed his story several times as revelations emerged about the episode captured on CCTV, which seemed to go against his story.
Currently on sick leave, Mr Moxnes is stepping down as leader of the opposition party, which he has led for 11 years and helped develop to the point where it won seven seats in parliament in the 2021 general election.
Under current rules in Norway, it is impossible to give up elected office, such as that of MP, during a term of office. The party’s number two, Marie Sneve Martinussen, 37, is taking over the reins of the party on a temporary basis.
