Police seem to have ignored a formal request to investigate reports that Prime Minister Joseph Muscat had received a luxury €20,000 Bvlgari watch from Yorgen Fenech, the businessman charged with conspiring to assassinate journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia.

Last week, Maltese activist group Repubblika turned to officers after Lovin Malta revealed that how the gift was given during Christmas 2014, just weeks after the government had given an “unprecedented” €88 million state guarantee to cover a bank loan for Electrogas to build a new power station.

Muscat so far has admitted to receiving the watch from Fenech.

Despite concerns that the watch could have formed part of a bribe, the Police Commissioner is yet to reply to the formal request or even examine the allegation.

“All these facts confirm our belief that Lawrence Cutajar is an agent of government corruption rather than an independent official of the state responsible for enforcing the law,” Repubblika said in a statement.

The Standards Commissioner has turned down a request to investigate the matter, given that it occurred before his tenure. However, he will look into Muscat receiving expensive wine totalling in the thousands from Fenech at his birthday party in Girgenti last February.