Jakarta – Already under investigation for corruption, Indonesia's Attorney-General was accused by police yesterday of embezzling thousands of dollars from a charity set up to help refugees.

Police say they found evidence that Muhammad Abdul Rachman siphoned 150 million rupiah from a fund that provided assistance to refugees forced from their homes by ethnic fighting in Kalimantan.

The latest allegation comes as Mr Rachman is fighting accusations that he misled state investigators by providing them with false data.

He was accused of failing to include a villa in a posh Jakarta neighbourhood and a number of bank accounts in his compulsory report to the Commission of Investigation of the Wealth of State Officials (KPKPN).

After receiving a complaint from the investigating commission, police began tracing the amount of 800 million rupiah in Mr Rachman's bank account.

They now allege that some of the money earmarked for refugees was used to buy a car for the Attorney-General.

"Investigators suspect that 150 million rupiah of a fund for Madurese refugees was embezzled by Attorney-General Abdul Rachman," said chief investigator Colonel Marsudi Hanafi.

"Rachman gave the money to a lawyer who then gave it to one of his colleagues to buy a car." A spokesman for the attorney-general's office, Antazari Azhar, said he could not comment until the police investigation was completed.