Penang Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng has instructed his lawyers to resist in full against attorney-general Mohamed Apandi Ali's move to initiate contempt proceedings against him.

His lawyer and DAP lawmaker Gobind Singh Deo said Lim has taken serious offence to the insinuations levelled at him.

"We have firm instructions to resist in full the said application on behalf of our client and to take all steps necessary in court to clear him of such charges and we will do the needful towards achieving that end on behalf of our client forthwith.

"The allegations against Lim are most serious in nature and have serious implications against him. We therefore reserve our client's rights in the matter or matters connected with it in any event," he added in a media statement.

Yesterday, the Kuala Lumpur High Court granted leave to Apandi to begin proceedings to cite Lim for contempt of court.

The AG is seeking to commit the chief minister to jail over the latter's purported comments on the corruption and abuse of power charges against him.

According to the originating summons for the case that was filed on Aug 18, Lim had made the statements during a press conference after launching the 'Dr Wu Lian Teh Symposium' by the Penang Institute in July at Jalan Brown, Georgetown.

He purportedly described the charges against him as a conspiracy that would put him in jail, and his statements were alleged to give a clear meaning that "the court is also involved in the alleged conspiracy" and would jail Lim on "trumped up corruption charges".

Meanwhile, Gobind said he has yet to be served with the cause papers in respect of the said application.

"I will comment on the said application further after I have received and perused it in full if necessary," he added.

Lim, who is also DAP secretary-general, was slapped with two corruption charges on June 30.

One was for allegedly rezoning a plot of land in Balik Pulau from agriculture to residential purpose to benefit the owner of the plot - Magnificent Emblem Sdn Bhd.

He was also charged with purchasing a bungalow on Jalan Pinhorn for RM2.8 million, allegedly below market value, from businesswoman Phang Li Koon.