Police Maj-General Surasit Sangkhapong, director of the Government Lottery Office (GLO), yesterday resigned from his post as the Office of the Auditor General stepped in to investigate allegations of irregularities.

Permanent Secretary for Finance Suparat Kawatkul said yesterday the resignation will take effect today and Surasit - who was a close aide of ousted Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra - tendered his resignation because he wanted to find another job after serving at the GLO for about three years.

Suparat said he had heard Surasit talking about resigning a few days ago, so this was no surprise to him. However, he insisted he did not know if this move by Surasit resulted from pressure from colleagues, others or the Office of the Auditor General's investigation into the two and three-digit lottery.

GLO deputy Wanchai Surakul - who has been in charge of online lotteries and the GLO Information Technology (IT) system - would be acting director until the new director was appointed.

Suparat said the lottery draw on October 1 would not be affected because each draw had its own committee to supervise it and ensure transparency.

He said the GLO would go ahead with its project for online six-digit, two and three-digit lotteries, but he could not say when they would be implemented as the preparations must be done carefully.

Suparat said the GLO executives had discussed and agreed to change the way money earned from two and three-digit lotteries was spent, but how and what to change would be a matter for further discussion.

Throughout his three-year period in the GLO top post, Surasit had been heavily criticised for a lack of transparency and inappropriate approvals of money earned from the original six-digit lottery and the two and three-digit lotteries which was spent on the populist policies of the Thai Rak Thai (TRT) administration headed by his friend Thaksin.

At the mobile Cabinet meetings, Surasit was often spotted walking behind Thaksin and nodding his head when the ousted premier promised to give villagers funds for development projects.

The GLO spending became even more scandalous when it was revealed that Bt200,000 was approved as a donation to a north-eastern temple but a TRT MP reportedly pocketed Bt150,000 and gave only Bt50,000 to the temple.