Malaysian police are helping track down a former Phnom Penh police chief who fled murder charges in Cambodia, a senior police official said today.

"Yes, there is a request from the Cambodian police to track down Heng Pov who is reportedly in Malaysia or Singapore," deputy police chief Musa Hassan was quoted as saying by the state Bernama news agency.

"Interpol has also received a similar request and we are helping to track him," he added.

A Cambodian government spokesman on Sunday told AFP that the former senior police chief had left Singapore.

"He was already sent to Malaysia," said Khieu Kanharith, minister of information.

Heng Pov fled to Singapore in late July to escape charges in connection with the 2003 assassination of a judge.

Failed assassination

The Khmer-language Kampuchea Thmey newspaper on Sunday quoted Interior Ministry spokesman Khieu Sopheak as saying he hoped the Malaysian authorities would arrest the former police chief.

Heng Pov is also alleged to be involved in failed assassination attempts on a newspaper publisher, a prosecutor, an electricity authority official and the national military police chief.

Once a top adviser to Prime Minister Hun Sen, Heng Pov had sought asylum in Australia, but its embassy in Singapore turned him down.

He then appealed directly to Foreign Minister Alexander Downer, apparently without success.