Mining magnate Clive Palmer has been charged with fraud and corporate misconduct offences that carry lengthy prison sentences over the alleged diversion of at least $10m to the benefit of his Palmer United party in the weeks before the 2013 election. Palmer denied the allegations, telling Guardian Australia the charges were “nonsense” and rehashed matters over which a court had already ruled in his favour. The commonwealth director of public prosecutions has charged Palmer with two counts of breaching his duties as a director of his mining company, Mineralogy, and two counts of fraud, the Australian Securities and Investments Commission said. Asic alleges that between 5 August 2013 and 5 September 2013, Palmer dishonestly obtained an advantage for either or both the PUP and another company he controlled, Cosmo Developments, by transferring $10m to it. It also alleges that at some point between the end of August 2013 and 3 September 2013 – just five days before the federal election – Palmer dishonestly obtained a benefit for either or both the PUP or advertising agency Media Circus Network by transferring more than $2.1m to it. Palmer is alleged to have breached his duties to Mineralogy in both transfers. Each offence carries a jail term of up to five years, but the fraud charges can result in imprisonment for up to 12 years if prosecutors can prove aggravating circumstances. The PUP spent heavily on advertising at the 2013 election, at which Palmer was propelled into parliament as the member for Fairfax, an electorate that covers Queensland’s Sunshine Coast, north of Brisbane. Palmer went on to spend at least an additional $60m on campaigning at last year’s election, where the Morrison government was returned to power, prompting calls for a cap on spending. Palmer said allegations that the payments from Mineralogy to Cosmo Developments and Media Circus Network were illegitimate had already been dismissed by a judge hearing a case brought against him by his former joint venture partner, the Chinese state-owned enterprise Citic Pacific. Citic Pacific alleged the $12m formed part of funds it supplied that Mineralogy should have held in a trust to build a port project. However, in 2015 Queensland supreme court judge David Jackson found that there was no trust. “The advice that we’ve got is that there’s nothing in them [the charges], they don’t disclose any dishonesty, and they deal with the same matters dealt with by Justice Jackson,” Palmer said. “We think they’re a nonsense, that there’s nothing involved in it.” He said the money belonged to Mineralogy, which in turned owned Cosmo Developments. “It can’t be the case that Australian companies can’t pay money to their subsidiaries,” he said. He said Mineralogy was also entitled to donate money to PUP. “It can’t be the case that Australian companies can’t donate freely to political parties,” he said. “I’m not worried about the charges, I’m concerned about the fact things are rehashed again and again.” Asic first revealed it had charged Palmer with fresh offences during parliamentary hearings in February, but did not provide any details of the allegations against him. Company records show Media Circus Network was controlled by veteran ad industry executive Teena Jameson and her partner, Jon Cole. Jameson, a former executive with the Aegis Media empire set up by advertising titan Harold Mitchell, reportedly set up Media Circus Network in 2011. Advertising multinational GroupM reportedly took over the company’s client list in 2016, and company records show it was deregistered in May year. No allegations are made against Jameson or Cole, who could not be reached for comment. The new charges against Palmer were first mentioned in the Brisbane magistrates court on 20 March. On Friday, the court adjourned the case until 28 August.