A police probe into allegations of perjury involving construction magnate Nazzareno Vassallo was yesterday criticised by lawyers over the laissez-faire manner in which it was conducted.

Lawyers Joe Giglio and Steve Tonna Lowell said they were shocked at the way the investigation was carried out in comments they made in reaction to a request for Mr Vassallo’s computer to be analysed.

The request was made by lawyer Arthur Azzopardi, representing Joseph Vella, in criminal proceedings where Mr Vassallo stands charged with presenting false documents in a 2010 civil suit in which Mr Vella is suing the construction magnate.

The issue revolves around the termination of a contract after Mr Vella’s company installed 60 bathrooms at Mr Vassallo’s Prince of Wales home for the elderly, in Sliema, at a cost of €200,000.

During civil proceedings, Mr Vassallo allegedly presented false documents in the form of tampered meeting minutes.

In the sitting yesterday, Dr Azzopardi asked Magistrate Carol Peralta to appoint a court expert to retrieve an e-mail from Mr Vassallo’s computer and from his own client to prove that what was sent and received was in fact false.

But Mr Vassallo’s lawyers said that this retrieval should have happened during the police investigation. They stressed that according to law, once the police charge someone, the investigations should stop and they could not speak to the accused.

Dr Giglio said the police were charging people on the strength of a criminal complaint and he hoped the situation would change.

“How could you charge someone over an e-mail, only to come to court and request to retrieve it?” Dr Giglio asked.

Dr Azzopardi said that after hearing his counterparts speaking he was preoccupied by how Mr Vassallo was charged four years after Mr Vella had filed the criminal complaint against him.

The case continues in October.