PAS has claimed that premier Najib Abdul Razak had personally signed the letter that controversially terminated the services of Abu Bakar Abdullah as director-general of the Civil Service Department.

mahfuz omar Party vice-president Mahfuz Omar (right) said the letter cites Regulation 49 of the Civil Servants Regulations (Conduct and Discipline) 1993 as the basis of termination .

However, there was no elaboration of this, said Mahfuz.

“The copy of the letter is with me. I cannot show it. That is an official secret,” he told a press conference in the Parliament lobby today.

“If the prime minister wants to deny, then deny it. Whoever signs it, he is the one who has to answer (for this).”

Asked for details, Mahfuz said the letter stated that Abu Bakar's was terminated from service based on Regulation 49.

There are four clauses within Article 49, which relates to "termination for public interest". It is unknown which specific clause was cited in the letter.

Mahfuz said that he had written to Najib to seek an official explanation about Abu Bakar's sacking.

"The question is what does it mean when a law about 'public interest' was used to terminate Abu Bakar's services?" he said.

The controversy over Abu Bakar's termination was exacerbated when chief secretary to the government Ali Hamsa said that he did not sign the termination letter.

It is widely believed that Najib had Abu Bakar sacked for designing the highly contentious Public Service Remuneration Scheme, which was eventually scrapped.