Sahabudin said the value of the property is not RM7.8 million as was recently alleged.

He said the six-bedroom bungalow was built on family land inherited by his wife. Work began in February last year. The initial estimated cost was about RM800,000 and the total came to about RM1 million.

“I built this house with my hard earned savings when I was working as a deep-sea diver outside of Malaysia for 27 years after serving with the navy,” he told Berita Harian.

“If it’s truly worth RM7.8 million, I will sell it and make a profit,” he said, according to Kosmo.

The bungalow came to prominence last week when photos made the rounds on social media, with claims that it belongs to Sanusi. However, his office denied the allegation: “Not one sen of the Kedah menteri besar’s money was used to build the bungalow,” it said in a statement on Tuesday.

Sahabudin said he did not know that the issue went viral as he does not use any social media platform, and only knew that his house was in the spotlight when friends and his children informed him.

“To me, this house is not that big. There are other bungalows belonging to Sik residents that are way bigger than mine. Maybe it went viral because I am the menteri besar’s brother, this is politically motivated,” he said.