Phang Li Koon, who sold her bungalow to Penang Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng is reserving her right to take legal action against those who drag into the controversy.

She also signed a statutory declaration which explained the process of the sale of the double-storey house located along Jalan Pinhorn.

Phang declared that she is not a director nor shareholder of KLDIC, which won the bid for the Taman Manggis land via an open tender.

She also denied being involved in the management of the firm.

“I do not understand why my agreement to sell the house to the CM has been blown up to such a big national issue when I have no business dealings with the state government,” Phang said in the SD, which was read out by state executive councillor Phee Boon Poh.

[Scroll down to read the full statutory declaration]

“Neither have I obtained any benefit from the state government by selling the house to him. It is my decision at what price I want to sell to him.

“I stress that I was not pressured or forced or under any influence by the CM or any party to sell the house to the CM at RM2.8 million. I sold on my own free will on a willing buyer and willing seller basis,” she added.

Phee (photo), the assemblyperson for Sungai Puyu in Butterworth, is a distant relative of Phang.

Lim is under attack for buying the bungalow below the market price, which was raised in Parliament on March 17 by Umno Tasek Gelugor MP Shabudin Yahaya.

Lim denied the allegation, saying the purchase of the bungalow, which he had previously been renting, was above board.

Phang said she got to know Lim’s family after becoming a close friend of his wife, Betty Chew, in 2008.

That year, she had also bought the house at No 25, Jalan Pinhorn, for RM2.5 million, where Lim and his family now reside.

She had initially wanted her brother to stay there but offered the house to the CM after hearing from his wife that there were termite problems in their official residence.

'CM and his family very good tenants'

Phang said a tenancy agreement was entered into and signed on July 1, 2009, with three years tenure at a rental of RM5,000 a month, and it was later extended to another three years until June 30, 2015.

“The CM and his family have been very good tenants for the last six years. To me, he is a respectable leader and I feel honoured to sell my property to him,” she said.

“I think Penang has done well under his administration, and most importantly, I have sold my property to the person I respect.

“I have no regrets selling my property at RM2.8 million, and I have cleared myself of unnecessary headache and stress,” she added.

However, Phang said renting the house to them had caused her much distress from BN and NGOs alleging untrue stories about her.

There were also more incidents with demonstrations, a funeral rite held in front of the house and Molotov cocktails thrown into the compound, which made the house “so exposed and unsafe”.

She said there were endless news on the house, with its address and photos splashed all over the newspapers.

“I felt very uncomfortable if my relatives or I ever decide to stay there in future, I will not feel safe and secure to stay in such an overly exposed and much publicised house.

“So by early 2012, I verbally let Chew know that if they were ready and willing to buy, I would sell them the house at RM2.8 million.

“Chew told me they were interested in buying but the CM was worried that he could not afford to buy the house if he was not re-elected as chief minister,” she added.

Phang said Chew had asked if she was willing to sell them the house at the same price of RM2.8 million after the general election in May 2013.

In 2014, Phang said, she and Lim executed an agreement dated June 23, under which she agreed to grant him a five-year option tenure to purchase the said property at RM2.8 million.

This was done in consideration of Lim paying her RM100,000, and she would allow him and his family to continue renting the place.

Phang said before the extension tenancy was up in June 30, 2015, she had made up her mind to dispose of the property for good.

She said she did not survey the market when she decided to sell the house to the CM in 2015 because she did not think it was necessary as she already had him as a buyer and there was an agreement signed in 2014 on the sale price.

Based on her records, the sale and purchase agreement was signed on July 28 last year and the bank released the full loan sum in October.