Penang Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng will be questioned by the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission next week.

DAP national legal bureau chairperson Gobind Singh Deo said the MACC contacted him on the matter today, and he told the anti-graft body the CM was prepared to be questioned by the commission.

"The MACC told me they need more time to gather more information on the case.

"For me, this is not a problem. I told them to contact us if they need further documents, and whatever information they need they can obtain from us," Gobind said at a press conference at Wisma DAP in Penang today.

Gobind, who is also Puchong MP, said Lim would be questioned in Penang and the party will inform the media of any updates.

Accompanying Gobind at the press conference on Jalan Rangoon were state DAP chief Chow Kon Yeow and 20 other elected representatives.

They have all emerged from a meeting on the allegations over the chief minister's purchase of a 30-year-old bungalow for RM2.8 million, which Umno claimed was done at below the market price.

CM briefed DAP reps on the issue

Chow said Lim had briefed the DAP elected representatives about the issue and Gobind presented the legal and political dimension of the case which has hogged media headlines since it was raised in Parliament on March 17.

"After the briefing by Lim and Gobind, and after we have reviewed the facts, we find that the CM (chief minister) has done nothing wrong,” said Chow.

He said they viewed the matter as a “political persecution and victimisation against Lim by the BN”.

"As it is a political persecution and victimisation, the issue of him going on leave pending the MACC probe does not arise.

"We are all behind the CM as he leads the fight against the BN's political persecution and victimisation against him," Chow stressed.

The MACC had visited the state secretariat office on Monday and Lim’s office in Komtar yesterday to carry out their probe on the latter’s bungalow purchase on Jalan Pinhorn, off Green Lane.

Chow said despite them finding no wrongdoing by Lim, the state government staff will give their full cooperation to MACC.

“We will not interfere in their investigations; this is our commitment to being an accountable and transparent state government,” he added.

Red herring

Chow also said it was obvious that the case against Lim was publicised to divert attention from the RM2.6 billion donation scandal plaguing Prime Minister Najib Razak.

Asked why Lim was not prepared to go on leave when the DAP often pressure BN leaders to do so, Chow said “it is because Lim has done no wrong but is politically persecuted and victimised”.

On Tuesday, the bungalow seller, businesswoman Phang Li Khoon signed a statutory declaration to declare that she sold Lim the house for an agreed price of RM2.8 million in 2012 on a willing buyer-willing seller basis.

In her SD, which was read out by her relative, state executive councillor cum DAP Sungai Puyu assemblyperson Phee Boon Poh, Phang said she did not benefit from the sale of the unit, which was sold to Lim in July, 2015.

Asked why Phang did not read out the SD herself, Gobind said she is a witness in the case and will also be giving her statement to the MACC.

Gobind was also asked if the SD was valid if read by someone other than the person who signed the document, to which he replied “yes”.

He was also asked if Phang were admitting to a wrongdoing when she did not read her SD.

Gobind however said the contents of the SD was important and the details in the document do not become invalid just because it was read by someone else.

“The extent of the questions asked about the SD only goes to show the effort to look for technicalities to discredit the contents of the SD,” he said.