Apia, SAMOA — Samoa Prime Minister Laaulialemalietoa Leuatea Schmidt has confirmed that Press Secretary Nanai Laveitiga Tuiletufuga has resigned and the cabinet has accepted his resignation.

"Because I am rushing to take a flight to Pago, but I will on Friday take some time on Friday to thank Nanai, who has been serving the government for so long as a press secretary," La'auli said.

"He will be acknowledged soon."

However, La'auli said the government will look into ways to avoid the leakage of appointment information to the media.

"We will try to avoid that in the future and not repeat what happened with Nanai," he added.

The prime minister was referring to the error made by the Press Secretariat in publicizing that Tuiloma Dr Viali Lameko has been appointed as the new Health Chief Executive Officer and ten minutes later it was changed to June Scanlan Lui.

Nanai made an apology later on that day when the error was made and said it was regretted.

But, Nanai was suspended, and Laauli said an investigation had been ordered to find out why it had happened.

While Nanai's resignation was announced, the outcome of the probe is still under wraps.

Nanai resigned while serving his suspension.