Penang Gerakan's Jason Loo said he has been served three legal notices by Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng regarding his remarks on the Peel Avenue land sale, but a lawsuit is not forthcoming.

"Is this an admission that the questions I have been asking the chief minister are not defamatory?

"Based on his (Lim's) track record of suing people, he would have sued me. How many times has he called me a liar and described my statements as lies?" Loo told a press conference today.

The state Gerakan acting youth chief had previously claimed that the sale of the 2.6ha state land for RM156 million to the Island Hospital Group on a 99-year-lease for the construction of a 40-storey luxury hotel was "unusual."

This was because it was not done through an open tender, did not involve any board of directors, or committee board, minutes of meetings, audited reports, and thus, was not transparent.

Loo has also alleged that the Penang state government had given "extraordinary privileges" for the party which would build the hotel, by giving a waiver for the payment of development charges.

"Why are you afraid of the rakyat?" he asked.

Loo further "reminded" Lim that the latter said in a 2008 parliamentary sitting that in other countries, the lack of open tenders in government contracts can be seen as corruption.

"So is the chief minister and his state government, also corrupt when they sold the Peel Avenue state land without an open tender in Dec 2016?"

The chief minister, in a bid to justify the sale without an open tender, likened the transaction to a foreign direct investment.