GEORGE TOWN: DAP lawmaker Ramkarpal Singh has urged the Government to set up a Royal Commission of Inquiry into the murder of Altantuya Shaariibuu.



This would need the approval of the Yang di-Pertuan Agong, acting on the advice of Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad, he said in a statement Friday.



Ramkarpal was responding to a UK news report that Australian authorities have approved Malaysia's request to extradite convicted killer Sirul Azhar Umar, who is expected to return to the country within a month.



“As the Bukit Gelugor MP, I have raised this issue to extradite convicted killer Sirul, but was told by the previous government that the suggestion was being considered.



“I am glad that action is finally being taken. This is a positive break and it will start an investigation behind the real motive of the murder,” he told a press conference in Ayer Itam on Friday.



Ramkarpal also urged the newly appointed Attorney General, Tommy Thomas, to consider reopening case.



Ramkarpal, who was the lawyer for Altantuya's father Setev Shaariibuu, said there are efforts to bring his client to Malaysia to discuss the matter with Dr Mahathir.



“It should take about one to two weeks from now,” he said.



In 2013, the Court of Appeal overturned the sentences of Sirul and his accomplice Azilah Hadrim. But upon the prosecution's appeal, the Federal Court upheld the death sentences.



Sirul then fled to Australia where the Australian Immigration detained him, after Interpol issued a red notice on him.



Altantuya, 28, was believed to have been shot dead before her body was blown up by explosives at a secondary forest near the Subang Dam in Puncak Alam, Shah Alam, in 2006.



On May 16, Mongolian President Khaltmaagiin Battulga wrote to Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad to ask him to help bring justice to Altantuya’s murder.

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