In June, former Australian Federal Police and New South Wales police officer Paul Gibbons made a complaint to the Crime and Corruption Commission against several officers after he was arrested in his hotel lobby.

He claimed the arrest was unlawful and that officers deleted footage he took on his mobile phone, along with his contacts list and photos and videos of his honeymoon.

The CCC handed over responsibility for the complaint to the QPS but Mr Gibbons, who lives in Germany, claimed the service had not been properly investigating the matter.

"They think by virtue of me no longer living in Australia, then they can let the matter go," he said.

"It's a concerted effort."

In late November, he took the extraordinary step of preparing his own statement for police, at an alleged cost $536 at the Australian Embassy, releasing it to the media last week in an attempt to force the QPS to act.

Mr Gibbons said police had offered to take a statement over the phone but that was not appropriate and they should have used the AFP's international network to take a statement from him in person.

Police confirmed the Ethical Standards Command was investigating and said it would be inappropriate to comment further.

Mr Gibbons and his wife had just arrived back at the Ipanema Holiday Resort after an evening at Dracula's on June 4 when four police officers yelled for him to "open the f---ing door", his statement alleges.

According to the statement, he was scared for his safety due to the "intensity of unprovoked aggression" and "unprofessional demeanour" and asked them to contact the night manager, prompting a stream of abuse.

Alleged threats included "Just open the door f---head", "When we get in there, I'm locking you up" and "open the door c---".

Mr Gibbons said a total of nine police were involved in the arrest.

He did not have any audio recording of the incident but said he bought a notebook a day and a half later to record "contemporaneous" notes and was confident of their accuracy.

"No person's a tape recorder obviously and it's everyone's interpretation as to what was said," he said.

"But certainly it's as accurate as I could recall."

During the arrest, he was scared for his safety, even his life, was asphyxiated, put in a painful wrist-lock and had his genitals squeezed, Mr Gibbons claimed.

He said a knee was used to pin his face to the tile floor, causing swelling and pain to both cheekbones and bruising to his eye socket.

"Your (sic) f---ed, We're gunna lock you up. When we get you out to the truck, I'm going to smash your f---ing face in c---," one of the officers allegedly said, as the complainant was held.

Mr Gibbons said as well as the physical pain, the incident exacerbated the PTSD he suffered as an officer.

Video of the incident appears to show Mr Gibbons pulling out his phone to start recording, prompting an immediate reaction from police, grabbing it and forcing Mr Gibbons to the ground.

Mr Gibbons said police threatened to "smash" the phone if he didn't unlock it for them, so police could delete footage of the incident.

The former cop was not charged but said he was threatened by police not to report the incident.

CCTV footage obtained by Mr Gibbons the following day appears to show multiple officers accessing the phone over the next 10 minutes, taking it in and out of an evidence bag three times.

Mr Gibbons has now accused the QPS and the senior ESC officer investigating his case of attempting to pervert the course of justice by not investigating his complaint.

A CCC spokesman said the watchdog would review how the QPS dealt with the matter before it was finalised.