Menteri Besar Abdul Khalid Ibrahim had received a letter from the sultan on the appointment of Mohamed Khusrin Munawi to takeover his post, former Selangor state secretary Ramli Mahmud said today. 

"(The Sultan) had agreed to the appointment of Khusrin through a letter addressed to me, which was copied to the Menteri Besar," he said.

Breaking his silence on the matter, the man accused of sidestepping the MB in the decision leading to the current impasse said he had repeatedly asked a state exco for the Selangor government shortlist.

"I had asked for the state's shortlist several times from (executive councilor) Hassan (Ali)... and was told that the list had been given to the MB," he said.

NONE According to Ramli, (right ) he had not told the exco about the sultan's letter consenting to Khusrin's appointment as the matter was embargoed.

"I figured that if anyone was to break the embargo, it should be the MB because he, too, received a copy of the letter (from the sultan) as he is less likely to be blamed for going against the Official Secrets Act.

Khusrin topped shortlist

"I believe that all this was due to a communications breakdown and a lack of communication between the MB and myself, which had led to many assumptions being made," he said.

Ramli added that he had in fact shortlisted eight names according to seniority and forwarded them to the sultan, Khalid and the Public Services Department and had advised Khalid to discuss it with the ruler.

He said the PSD later got back to him with a selection of three candidates, with Khusrin topping the list, which was then despatched to the sultan, as corroborated by the palace yesterday.

He also said that he only knew from media reports about Khalid's Dec 17 letter to the sultan, after the ruler had given his consent to Khusrin's appointment.

The menteri besar is expected to respond to the claim later today.