A senior aide to Selangor Menteri Besar Mohamed Azmin Ali has described allegations that "money and women are requested" during negotiations with the state government as a "deviation tactic" from PKR's internal turmoils.

Seri Muda assemblyperson Suhaimi Shafie told Malaysiakini he believes the individual who raised the allegations had done so to deviate attention of angry PKR members.

Their anger, claimed Suhaimi who is also Azmin's political secretary, stemmed from the action of a party leader who had allegedly leaked PKR's de facto leader Anwar Ibrahim's eight-page letter from prison.

"The majority of party members believe that the internal letter was leaked to the media by 'the person in charge of the party's administration," said Suhaimi, without mentioning any names.

"In order to deviate from the issue of the leaked letter, the allegations of 'money and women' were spread on purpose," he claimed.

He said this when asked for response to media reports that highlighted an allegedly leaked WhatsApp conversation, where PKR secretary-general Rafizi Ramli purportedly said he had received complaints about such demands.

Rafizi today confirmed that he had received the complaint from a whistleblower in his capacity as executive director National Oversight and Whistleblowers (NOW), which is investigating the complaint.

Commenting further, Suhaimi said any such allegations should be fully investigated before they are raised by the individual.

"It would have been best for the matter to be brought to the knowledge of (PKR)'s central leadership before any decision was made," he said.

"The question now is, what was the intention and motive of the individual to have raised the matter in the WhatsApp group?," he asked.

Earlier this morning, Azmin has described the latest allegations as a systematic smear campaign against the state government.

He also said the allegations appearing on social media and news portals are vicious and scurrilous, and not supported by any evidence.