/ 10 October 2008

Norwegian MP quits over hotline to fortune-tellers

A Norwegian politician said on Thursday she would not be seeking re-election after being forced to admit to a large phone bill for making calls to fortune-tellers.

Sarah Khaen spent several hundred thousand Norwegian kroner on the calls in recent years, the tabloid Verdens Gang reported.

In a single quarter, her phone bill came to 48 000 kroner (almost €6 000), spending more than twice as much as her parliamentary colleagues.

Her calls became so frequent that many fortune-tellers told her to stop ringing, the Norwegian daily said.

Having denied the story for a long time, Khaen released a statement, admitting that “a large part” of her expenses had been spent on “conversations with psychics and fortune-tellers”.

“I really regret it,” she said in the statement, promising to reimburse the additional cost in her bill. — AFP