Littorin denies buying sex: lawyer

The lawyer of former employment minister Sven Otto Littorin said on Saturday that her client denies Aftonbladet's allegations that he bought sex.

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Birgitta Hållenius is representing Littorin in the ongoing custody battle with his ex-wife. Littorin declined to comment on Saturday, but Hållenius told news agency TT that her client rejects the allegations that he bought sex in Saturday's Aftonbladet.

"My client Sven Otto Littorin denies the crime and specifically rejects the allegations that were published in Aftonbladet," said Hållenius. "Until further notice, my client will not make any further statements."

She would not say where Littorin is at present.

Littorin resigned from his post this week after Aftonbladet confronted him about the alleged crime, the newspaper claimed earlier on Saturday.

A 30-year-old woman said she sold sex to the former employment minister. The two met in the late summer or autumn in 2006 and had sex in return for payment, according to the woman's account.

The newspaper published details of her customers that she had saved on her computer. Among the entries in her address book is a phone number that currently belongs to a representative of a preschool. Aftonbladet said that the preschool has had the number for three years and that it had previously belonged to Littorin, according to preschool.

The woman told the newspaper that she did not want to file a police report. Littorin declined to answer the newspaper's questions about the alleged crime. Because the alleged crime took place in 2006, the statute of limitations has already passed to prosecute Littorin.

Roberta Alenius, the press officer of Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt, informed news agency TT that the prime minister will hold a press conference at 11am on Saturday to address Littorin's alleged crime.

Lena Mellin, acting editor-in-chief of Aftonbladet, said the newspaper waited to publish the story to give Littorin a chance to comment on the allegations about buying sex.

"I think it has been long enough now," she told TT. "He has had the chance to say that this is not true, which he is not done. I think it is okay to publish."

According to Mellin, there was pressure from an ethical standpoint, it would not have been wrong to publish the information the day after Aftonbladet had confronted him with the allegations.

"We have in this case been extremely kind to him," she said.

The newspaper believes that the woman's story is credible.

"We trust this woman," said Mellin. "In addition, we have done everything we can technically to verify that what she said is true."

At the press conference, Reinfeldt said that Littorin told him the allegations were false. He says that Littorin called him on Tuesday evening and said he wanted to leave the government. One of the reasons he gave was that Littorin had been confronted with the allegations by Aftonbladet.

Christian Democratic party leader Göran Hägglund believes that Littorin should come forward and clarify whether the charges against him are true or not.

"I think sooner or later he should tell his version," said Hägglund. "This applies whether it is true or not. It applies to him as a person and for others to move on from this difficult situation."