Finance Minister Lim Guan Eng has brushed off allegations that Putrajaya is practising cronyism in dealing with a peer-to-peer homes ownership scheme platform that involved a pro-Pakatan Harapan developer.

Concerns were raised after Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad attended the launch of the FundMyHome programme in Semenyih on Nov 4, merely two days after the new crowdfunding scheme was announced as part of Budget 2019.

The digital platform which offers a similar scheme to the crowdfunding property solution is provided by EdgeProp Sdn Bhd, which is owned by Tong Koi Ong, a known supporter of Harapan.

"To indicate that there is something wrong because of the closeness where the launching came after the presentation of the budget?

"I think the prime minister was cutting it very fine because he was going from one programme to the next programme. He was paddling all his functions as much as possible," said Lim said during an interview with radio station BFM today.

The prime minister, he added, has always stressed that Malaysia has to be business-friendly.

Former prime minister Najib Razak and the adviser to the current prime minister A Kadir Jasin had raised concerns over potential cronyism involving this project.

Tong had claimed that what was announced in the budget was not the same.

Meanwhile, Lim said the government was just offering an alternative for Malaysians to own a home but it was up to the people to decide.

"This is another alternative and we want to give people the choice.

"Obviously, the prime minister met those who suggested this alternative for those who may have difficulty in getting access to loan from banks and financial institutions," he said.

Under the FundMyHome, house buyers have to fork out 20 percent of the property price plus fees such as legal fees – whether out of the pocket or through a five-year bank loan.

The remaining 80 percent would be funded by various investors. Home buyers can also opt for drawing from their Employees Provident Fund (EPF) account.