He called for Penang chief minister Chow Kon Yeow to ask the anti-graft agency to step in and also get the state Public Accounts Committee (PAC) to study the land deal.

“Penang Development Corporation’s (PDC) land deal, which had been called off, had unearthed disputes in the sale. The state government and PDC should cooperate with both MACC and the state PAC to show there was no corruption and abuse of power in how the land deal had been made.

“Let us not lose our attention on the directly negotiated land sale,” the state Gerakan chief said in a statement, alluding to a spat between Chow and the Penang Chinese Chamber of Commerce (PCCC).

The RM646 million sale of a 558.9-acre (226.20ha) plot of former plantation land in Byram, Batu Kawan has been in the spotlight after PDC was alleged to have sold it to a private company for lower than the market rate at RM26.53 per sq ft.

The company that bought the land from PDC was later acquired by a property developer.

The Penang government has since defended the sale, saying it was not possible to sell the land at RM80 per sq ft as per current market rate, as it was “raw land” devoid of any infrastructure, and was also located next to a landfill.

It was reported that the said land was acquired by the state at about RM10 per sq ft.

Earlier this week, PDC called off the deal, saying it made the decision after finding out that a developer had taken over the company that bought the land.

However, at a press conference yesterday, PCCC’s life honorary president Tan Kok Ping called Chow “incompetent” over the lack of answers on the land deal. Reports on Tan’s speech led to the chief minister saying he would sue the former for defamation.

Chow had also denied Tan’s claims, saying PDC had answered the group’s questions diligently from day one.