Washington, Dec. 30 - DC's chief financial officer Natwar Gandhi, who was in the office for the past 13 years, has decided to retire from his post.

Gandhi, who carries passages from the Bhagavad-Gita in his wallet, said that when he thought whether he wanted to be remembered as an accountant or as a poet, poet was the one thing that came to his mind, the Washington Post reported.

His run has had undeniable credits to his record - an unbroken string of balanced budgets, clean audits, and the raised expectations that were reflected on the laminated cards.

But all of that have been offset by considerable debit, and most prominent among them is the theft of almost 50 million dollars over almost two decades from the city treasury, by a mid-level tax office worker.

Gandhi's decision to resign, first announced in January, surprised many, as just months back, he had been re-nominated and reconfirmed to a third term, which would have allowed him to hold the office through 2017. (ANI)