The Independent Police Complaints Board is to investigate unspecified "insinuations" that followed the acquittal of a man accused of perjury after the prosecuting officer failed to submit important evidence, the police said.

The request for an investigation was made by Police Commissioner Angelo Gafa.

A court acquitted businessman Christian Borg of perjury charges, after the prosecution failed to provide enough evidence to sufficiently prove its case.

Borg was accused of giving false testimony in a civil case before magistrate Gabriella Vella in January 2021. The allegations arose after the magistrate herself filed a complaint, prompting criminal proceedings.

The prosecution failed to submit the transcript of Borg's testimony before magistrate Vella, needed to establish perjury.

In a statement on Wednesday, the police said they would be appealing the acquittal.

The police later said that "the Commissioner of Police has requested the Independent Police Complaints Board to look into insinuations made".

No further details were provided.

Civil society group NGO Repubblika had reacted strongly to news of the acquittal, hinting at collusion.

"On the basis of what we are seeing in court, we are being increasingly led to believe that there is collusion between the prosecution and defence so that criminal cases involving Robert Abela's friends are dropped," the NGO said.

Borg is a central figure in suspicious property deals involving Prime Minister Robert Abela. 

In a separate statement, the Nationalist Party noted that this is not the first case to fall apart due to a trivial omission by the Police Commissioner. The PN also notes that no one in the country believes these are merely "mistakes."

Today, it is clear to everyone that Commissioner Angelo Gafà is in his position to serve the interests of criminals who are friends of the Government, in this case, the business partner of Prime Minister Robert Abela himself, the PN said.

The PN said it took only 12 minutes for MP Karol Aquilina to obtain the required evidence from the court registry.