BY TAN SIN CHOW

GEORGE TOWN: Under searing heat, some 30 reporters and photographers were given a tour of what has become the “hottest” property in town – Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng’s controversial RM2.8mil bungalow in Pinhorn Road.

Media members were led through the house by Lim and his wife Betty Chew, checking out the living room, dining area and kitchen in the bungalow built in the 1980s.

The tour lasted about 20 minutes before Lim, accompanied by Chew, held a press conference in the compound.

Lim said he had no intention of buying the house when he moved into the house in 2009 on a monthly rent of RM5,000.

“My wife liked the place after staying a while. She feels comfortable here.”

Lim said the owner offered to sell him the house at RM2.8mil in 2012, but he did not commit himself because he was unsure whether he would get re-elected in the 2013 general election.

“The owner, however, gave Betty an undertaking that she would hold on to the price.

“It was only after I was re-elected, that I decided in July last year, to buy the property.”

Asked if he knew the house was sold at below market price, Lim said he was not a property agent.

“I don’t know the (market) price. There was a verbal understanding,” he said, referring to a purported understanding struck between his wife and the house owner.

Reporters and photographers being taken on a guided tour of the property.

Earlier, at a press conference in Komtar, Lim dared Umno’s Tasek Gelugor MP Datuk Shabudin Yahaya to repeat his allegation of corruption outside Parliament.

Lim had invited Shabudin to meet him yesterday after the Umno MP had implied the low price of Lim’s house was a kickback for the sale of state government land in 2012.

“I have prepared everything here, including good coffee, but he did not turn up. If Shabudin has all the evidence and proof, he should face me,” he said.

Lim said the seller of the bungalow was never involved in the company which won the bid in the sale of state land in Taman Manggis.

“The developer won the bid in an open competitive tender because it gave the best and highest price.

“Furthermore, the state tender committee is not chaired by me but by the Penang state secretary,” said Lim.