Denmark's foreign aid minister has resigned after lying to Parliament about his role in endorsing huge travel expenses for a South Korean-based environmental organization, The Associated Press reported.

Christian Friis Bach says that as board member of the Global Green Growth Institute that advises developing nations on low-carbon growth policies he had approved guidelines allowing government donations to be used on first class flights and luxury hotels. Last month, he told MPs he was not involved in approving such expenses.

The Danish chairman of the group, Lars Loekke Rasmussen, has said he spent more than 190,000 dollars of the institute's money during nine trips.

In 2011, Denmark donated 30 million kroner to the institute over a three-year period. Friis Bach's resignation took effect immediately on Thursday, November 21.