LOS ANGELES (AFP) -- California governor-elect Arnold Schwarzenegger is launching an investigation into charges that he sexually groped 16 women that surfaced during his campaign, aides said Thursday. The "Terminator" star's decision to conduct his own probe into the allegations that he sexually assaulted a string of women during his 30-year career as a Hollywood star came as California's top legal official warned him that the damaging charges are "not going to go away."

Schwarzenegger's campaign reacted furiously to Attorney General Bill Lockyer public divulging his warning to the governor-elect, accusing him of breaking attorney-client privilege.

"In regard to a review of allegations that surfaced late in the campaign, (Schwarzenegger) had already decided to engage a well respected investigative firm to look into the allegations," his spokesman Rob Stutzman said.

"He had intended to instruct the investigators to turn over the final results of that investigation to the attorney general; he will now reconsider that option," Stutzman added.

The fracas between the incoming Republican governor and his Democratic attorney general came less than two weeks before his scheduled November 17 swearing-in following his October 7 election landslide.