The accusation by Umno's MP for Tasik Gluguor Shabudin Yahaya against Penang chief minister Lim Guan Eng for acquiring a bungalow at a price way below market value has sparked widespread controversies not only inside the Dewan but also among the Malaysian public.

The bungalow in question was purchased by Lim in 2015 at RM2.8 million.

The property was bought by its previous owner at RM2.5 million in 2008 and resold after seven years for only a premium of RM300k, which did not conform to the phenomenon of skyrocketing property prices in Penang.

Some said the property should fetch up to RM6 million today.

Dismissing the accusation as unfounded, Lim invited Shabudin for a one-on-one meeting which the latter subsequently declined.

Lim later invited the media to visit his bungalow but even that did not seem to appease the controversies while MACC has said it would initiate a probe.

Lim said the transaction was on a willing seller-willing buyer basis, which shouldn't have much problem with any ordinary buyer at all.

But, once this entails a senior government official, a different yardstick applies because a government official has some power in his hand and should therefore come under tighter scrutiny.

In the face of such accusations, the accused have the obligation to respond to them with a more transparent and open attitude in order to allay all kinds of queries and suspicions.

In the meantime, this incident saw a new development Tuesday when Phang Li Koon, the seller of Lim's bungalow, emphasized through a statutory declaration that she had no business dealings with the state government and had not benefited anything from the state government because of the transaction.

Phang's statement should help clear the air so that the public could gain a better picture of the whole incident.

Even then it is still essential for the MACC to speed up investigation and make public the outcome in order to clear his name if he really has not been involved in any indecent transaction.