Norway’s left-wing party leader Bjørnar Moxnes resigned on Monday after the theft of luxury sunglasses at Oslo airport.
Moxnes – who leads Norway’s red party which has eight seats in the Norwegian parliament – was caught on camera on June 16 stealing Hugo Boss sunglasses from an empty store. After showing the theft spread, Mr. Moxnes called in sick in early July.
On Monday – a day before he was due to return from sick leave – Moxnes admitted to the theft and resigned from his post. “Many people ask me how I can do such stupid things. I have asked myself many times in the past weeks. I don’t have enough explanation,” he wrote Facebook.
A day earlier, the central committee of the Red Party decided that Marie Sneve Martinussen will replace Moxnes as party leader, who has held the position for the past 11 years.
Martinussen on Monday criticized the theft and the way Moxnes handled the scandal, because he did not provide “correct information” about the case from the beginning. “I am angry and disappointed by that, and I have told Bjørnar that frankly and in direct language,” he said at a press conference.
However, since Moxnes apologized and resigned after the scandal, the case has been “closed” for Martinussen, local media reported. Martinussen will be party leader until 2024.