Clive Palmer has denied his United Australia Party candidates will be required to pay as much as $400,000 if they leave the party, branding the claims "fake news".
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The Guardian reported on Thursday that Palmer's candidates who won their seat on May 18 and later left the party would have to pay back as much as $400,000.
It was reported contracts were in place to reimburse the advertising budget and other support to avoid a repeat of the "Jacqui Lambie problem".
Ms Lambie won a Senate seat in Tasmania for the then Palmer United Party in 2013.
She resigned after one year and established the Jacqui Lambie Network.
Mr Palmer said his candidates had "absolutely not" been asked to pay back that amount of money.
"That's just a false claim," Mr Palmer said.
"No-one has been asked to pay back $400,000.
"You wouldn't believe anything you read in The Guardian."
Mr Palmer labelled the story "fake news".
"All our candidates have had the opportunity to fund their own campaign if they wanted or to enter into funding arrangements," Mr Palmer said.
"I can't divulge every person's activity because there are privacy provisions under the act I will be breaching."
Australian Associated Press
