KUALA LUMPUR, March 26 — Penang Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng said today he will gladly cooperate with the police in its investigation on his controversial RM2.8 million house purchase in George Town, said to have been sold far below market value.

However, Lim who is also DAP secretary-general questioned the “unusually quick response” of  Inspector-General of Police Tan Sri Khalid Abu Bakar who announced the police were conducting its own investigation into the matter 48 hours after political rivals from Umno Youth filed a report accusing the seller of making a false sworn statement over the property.

“The IGP specifically said that I will be called as a witness. I will be happy to assist and co-operate, as I have nothing to hide,” he said in a statement.

But he also asked: “Will Ms Phang and myself be given the right to be investigated fairly, impartially and professionally?”

The Penang lawmaker noted that Umno Youth claimed to have evidence that the house seller Phang Li Koon has business dealings with the Pakatan Harapan state government, citing her 20 per cent stake in an employment company listed on the InvestPenang website.

“What Umno Youth fails to mention is that the company mentioned is not the only company listed, but one of the 30 employment agencies listed.

“There are also many other lists for auditors, banks, architects, construction companies and others,” Lim said.

He likened the directory published by InvestPenang, the state’s investment arm, to a “mini Yellow Pages”, emphasising that any company can be listed in it that may not necessarily have direct business deals with the state government.

“Unless the state government is looking for foreign workers, there is no need for the Penang state government to seek out Ms Phang’s services,” he said.

He also said the state does not recruit foreign workers “as a matter of policy” and had even ended the privatisation of garbage collection in Majlis Perbandaran Seberang Perai that had previously employed migrants to carry out the job that is now performed by 2,500 locals.

The IGP told reporters here yesterday that the police are probing Phang over her statutory declaration last Tuesday in connection with the Jalan Pinhorn house.

Controversy over Lim’s 10,000-sq ft property erupted after Umno MP for Tasek Gelugor Datuk Shabudin Yahaya accused the DAP leader of purchasing the house at below market value and linked it to the sale of the Taman Manggis land back in 2012.

This led to several reports being lodged with the police and the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission over the past week by various parties, including local Malay non-governmental organisations, Penang Umno Youth and MIC.

Lim has repeatedly denied the allegations.