After being challenged yesterday, Penang BN chief Teng Chang Yeow has directly accused Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng of lying about the state’s undersea tunnel project.

Teng dismissed Lim's challenge to brand him as a liar, so that the chief minister could take legal action, as both "laughable and ludicrous".

He also stood by his statement that Lim had lied when he said not a single cent was paid for the 7.2km tunnel, which is to link the island with Butterworth.

"He is Penang chief minister and head of state administration. He is answerable to the people on all the decisions he made.

"Whether his name is mentioned or otherwise, makes no difference.

"The answers given by Lim in this press conference has shown that he lied to the people, unless he proves that all documents produced by the BN were fake and fabricated," Teng said at a press conference today.

The state Gerakan chief was referring to printouts of Lim's official Facebook postings, which he said a delegation from the party would submit to the chief minister in Komtar tomorrow.

At Lim's press conference yesterday, he pointed out that Teng erred when he said 50 acres of land had been swapped with Consortium Zenith Construction Sdn Bhd for the construction of three highways.

Lim reiterated that the project was awarded to Zenith via an open tender process in 2013, and that the state only paid RM208 million via a land swap of 3.7 acres for work done to obtain EIA approvals for the three major highways.

"The state did not grant 50 acres of land to Zenith as claimed by Teng, neither is the state government responsible for any business transaction entered into by Zenith with other private companies which the state is not privy to, or has not approved," the chief minister had said.

Today, Teng insisted that Lim's presence to officiate the signing of a memorandum of agreement with Zenith in 2015 on the sale of the land "was not a private business transaction".

"Lim's presence at the ceremony was, surely, not as a decorative flower vase," he said.

Teng had previously noted that the Penang state legislative assembly was told last year that an additional RM11.2 million was paid in cash to an independent technical consulting firm, HSSI Sdn Bhd - contrary to the chief minister's claim that no money had been spent so far on the project.

Prepared for court

Teng said he is prepared to face the CM in court to seek the truth, and he will continue to speak out for the interest of the people of Penang.

He would also instruct his lawyers to study Lim's "accusations" that he lied on the issue, to see if the CM has made any slanderous remarks.

"I reserve my legal right to take him to court. Let the people of Penang judge who is lying.

"If I take legal action against the CM, it will be the first time in my political career that I have sued a politician," Teng added.