MELBOURNE – A Malaysian convicted of killing heart surgeon Victor Chang will arrive at the KL International Airport tonight accompanied by two Australian immigration officers.

Phillip Lim Choon Tee, 50, (right) was due to leave Sydney on a Malaysia Airlines flight yesterday afternoon but it was grounded because of a mechanical fault on the plane, spotted just before take-off.

He spent a second night in immigration detention following his release from Parramatta Jail on Monday.

Mum over flight Lim is on

Lim, who was jailed for a maximum 24 years over his role in Dr Chang's 1991 murder, boarded the plane yesterday afternoon accompanied by two immigration officials and two security guards.

The Sydney Morning Herald said the plane taxied on to the runway just after 3:30pm, but returned before take-off. Another attempt after 7pm was also aborted.

A Malaysia Airlines spokesman said two flights would be leaving Sydney Wednesday  –  one at 3.30pm (local time) and the other at 9.30pm.

She would not reveal which flight Lim will be on for security reasons.

Barred from Australia

According to Bernama, Lim will not be allowed to return to Australia after he reaches Malaysia, but immigration officials will escort him to Kuala Lumpur before setting him free.

Chang was shot dead in Sydney on July 4, 1991.

"Our duty of care will finish once he is escorted from the plane," Department of Immigration state director Gavin McCairns told the Herald. "Once he's free from us, he's a Malaysian citizen."

The New South Wales Parole Authority decided last year that Lim should be released when his minimum 18-year jail term expired on Nov 11. Following public outrage, the state government intervened and the authority "vacated" its decision.

Appeal succeeds

But Lim last month successfully appealed to the Supreme Court which ruled the move was invalid.

Dr Chang was shot dead in a Sydney street in a failed extortion attempt. The gunman, Liew Chew Seng, will remain in a Sydney jail for at least another two years.

In response to Lim's imminent return to Malaysia, Home Minister Hishammuddin Hussein said he was a free man now as he had served his sentence for a crime committed in Australia.

Lim has not committed any crime under Malaysian jurisdiction, he added.