Per Asklund, former chair of the local council in Laholm, was found guilty of attempting to purchase sex by the Halmstad District Court and fined 8,000 kronor ($1,150).

Five other men were convicted for purchasing sex, while the 47-year-old head of the prostitution ring was sentenced to five months in prison for pimping.

Asklund, of the Moderate Party, was the chair of the local council until mid-November when the news broke that he was facing sex charges.

The 59-year-old-Asklund chose to leave politics immediately when the charges were made public after a suspected prostitution ring was uncovered in central Halmstad.

It was soon thereafter revealed that Asklund had also been surfing for porn and escort service websites from his office computer.

The district court ruled that Asklund’s claim that he didn’t intend to purchase sexual services was “so difficult to believe that it can be disregarded”.

In police interrogations, Asklund confessed to having met with a 32-year-old woman, and placing 1,200 kronor ($176) on her table.

According to Halmstad’s district court, this payment to the woman was sufficient to “pass the limit for attempt”, and Asklund was therefore convicted of attempting to purchase sex.