Swedish postal chief gives up pay

STOCKHOLM, Sweden, Nov. 23 (UPI) -- The head of the Swedish post office has agreed to go without pay for his entire time in the position, repaying anything he has already been paid.

Lars Nordstrom had come under fire after the newspaper Dagens Nyheter reported that he was being paid twice as much as his predecessor as chief executive officer of Posten, The Local reported.

Nordstrom, who receives more than $500,000 in an annual pension from his years as head of a state-owned bank, and other income from directorships, was being paid 900,000 kronor ($106,000) a month. That is equal to the salaries of 45 letter carriers.

"I am aware, as you have implied, that this is a hopeless discussion for me to conduct," he told an interviewer on TV4. "I have therefore decided to forgo my salary, out of regard to Posten, Posten's employees, Posten's customers and myself, because I do not like the insinuation that I am greedy."