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The Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle on Monday dismissed as groundless accusations that one of its lawmakers, Emir Moeis, had received illegal funds from Bank Century, saying the allegations were a ploy to divert attention from an ongoing probe into the bank’s bailout.

“We found no money transfer on behalf of Emir Moeis,” said Gayus Lumbuun, deputy chairman of party’s faction in the House of Representatives.

Gayus is also deputy chair of the House special committee investigating the Rp 6.7 trillion ($710 million) bailout.

A document anonymously distributed to journalists accused Emir of routinely receiving foreign-currency deposits in his Bank Century account in 2007-08.

It also claimed that more than Rp 10 billion in cash was deposited into one of Emir’s accounts in 2008, with the funds collected by a bank officer from the secretary of Nirwan Bakrie, brother of businessman and Golkar Party chairman Aburizal Bakrie.

Emir, who attended Monday’s news conference, acknowledged that he had had at least four accounts at the bank since 2004 and used them to receive foreign-currency deposits from his businesses.

He said he had been close to the Bakrie family since his childhood, and that one of his offices was in Bakrie Tower.

“At that time, I had just received Rp 5 billion and I didn’t want to bring home such a large sum of cash. So I rented a Bank Century deposit box and I deposited it there. It was collected by a Bank Century officer,” he said.

Gayus said the allegation had been created to divert attention from the bailout investigation and what he said was significant evidence that the bailout money had flowed to certain political figures.

Independent banking analyst Yanuar Rizky said the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) should look into the accusations against Emir.

“There are indications of money-laundering because the foreign-currency transfers into Emir’s account were carried out without any permanent records or bank documentation,” he said.

However, Yanuar said that if the account was set up by Dewi Tantular, a sister of Bank Century key shareholder Robert Tantular, and Bank Century officials themselves, “then it might be an attempt to bribe Emir to overlook the irregular activities of the bank.”