A federal MP has revealed extraordinary allegations from a former Crown casino driver who claims he transported foreign nationals to the company’s Melbourne hotel from a private jet base without being subject to border security checks and saw women degraded, abused and “slapped around”.

Andrew Wilkie quoted the whistleblower’s testimony in the lower house, adding to allegations in a Channel Nine investigation that Crown casino has links to organised crime in China and used a sweetheart deal with the home affairs department to facilitate visas for high rollers.

The revelations – rejected by Crown – prompted the attorney general, Christian Porter, to launch a law enforcement integrity probe on Tuesday.

Wilkie said the driver had told his office that “there is no law at Crown” and “even if it’s illegal you can get whatever you want at Crown” including cocaine, pills and MDMA.

Wilkie said that the driver “routinely transported foreign nationals between Crown casino and the Melbourne jet base through the notorious access gate 24”.

“He recounts that there were no Border Force checks. Foreign nationals [were] getting off with up to 15 bags for a short stay, stopping only on the way to the casino to pick up a sex worker.

“On violence, this latest whistleblower told my team: ‘You see women being degraded, women being abused, women slapped around – things like that. If you saw someone being slapped around you literally become numb to it, and you see it a lot.’”

Wilkie said the allegations “go to the performance of Victoria police, [the Victorian Commission for Gambling and Liquor Regulation], the Australian federal police, Austrac, the Department of Transport, Border Force and Asio”.

The speech triggered a fall in Crown’s share price from $12.36 to $11.78 before recovering to a day-end price of $11.98, down 2.3%.

In a statement, Crown said it “absolutely rejects allegations of illegality made in parliament today and in recent media reporting”.

“We believe these allegations are ill-informed and an attempt to smear the company.”

Wilkie unsuccessfully moved a motion for a joint parliamentary committee to examine Crown, citing recent reports and his earlier complaints of pokie tampering which resulted in a “laughably tiny fine” of $300,000 in Victoria.

Porter, the attorney general, said he had considered the Nine investigation and “allegations which are either directly relatable to, or tangentially relatable to, commonwealth officers” and concluded “there are sufficient concerns raised at least to warrant further investigations”.

Porter revealed he had referred it to the Australian Commissioner for Law Enforcement Integrity, which he said is “the most appropriate body to consider these allegations”.

He said if the ACLEI uncovered conduct by public servants who were not law enforcement officials, or by civilians or employees of a commercial organisation, ACLEI could refer information and further allegations to the Australian federal police.

Crown said it would assist the investigation and “if there is any evidence of unlawful conduct, we encourage individuals or organisations to contact the relevant authorities”.

While Labor backed the government’s call to tap the ACLEI to conduct an inquiry instead of a parliamentary committee, the Greens and Wilkie raised concerns the decision could put ministers and other politicians out of reach of the probe.

Calls for an inquiry began with a Nine investigation alleging tens of thousands of leaked internal Crown documents show the casino company has close ties to organised crime through the organisers of junkets run to lure gambling whales from mainland China, where gambling is banned.

The investigation featured the former Australian Border Force head Roman Quaedvlieg, who told 60 Minutes two government ministers complained to him that Crown’s VIP jets “weren’t receiving a facilitated service for private jets coming into Australia”.

The Greens MP Adam Bandt warned that ACLEI “can’t investigate ministers and former ministers, especially regarding the prime ministers’s statement of ministerial standards”.

He accused the Liberal and Labor parties of “running a protection racket for ministers and former ministers with connections to Crown casino”.

Later, Wilkie told reporters in Canberra the new probe was “good but only as far as it goes.” The allegations go beyond “strictly criminal matters” to the broader question of “integrity” and whether ministers acted improperly by putting pressure on government agencies to allow high-rollers with criminal links into the country, he said.

In a statement on Tuesday, the Department of Home Affairs confirmed it has “stakeholder arrangements” with a number of large international organisations for the quick processing of short stay visas but insisted there was no special treatment given to applicants.

“The arrangement with Crown casinos was put in place in 2003. The arrangement was last affirmed by the minister in June 2011 and ceased in 2016,” the department said.

“There is no reduced vetting in certain locations or for certain applicants. Our offices in China are well aware of the risks that may be present in their caseloads and they scrutinise and manage applications accordingly.

“There is no discretion to waive legislative checks or requirements and the department has no evidence that this has occurred.”

Wilkie said the idea a government department would fast-track visas for a company that is a major political donor “doesn’t pass the pub test”.

Before Wilkie’s speech the Victorian premier, Daniel Andrews, defended the state’s gaming regulator against the independent’s allegations it had proved “incapable or unwilling” to properly supervise Crown.

“I know that they take issues of probity and integrity across the industry very seriously and I’m very confident that they have everything they need to guarantee that probity and integrity as we look to the future,” Andrews said. “No one gets a pass on integrity and probity when it comes to this industry or any industry.”