Australian Federal Police officers concealed evidence and submitted false documents in the prosecution of an Australian pilot on child sex charges, resulting in his wrongful conviction, the man's lawyers claim.

Fred Martens, who spent 940 days in a Queensland prison after being convicted of the rape of a 14-year-old Papua New Guinea girl in Port Moresby, is suing the federal government for $45 million.

The 61-year-old was the first to be charged under sex-tourism laws which target Australians who commit sex crimes in Pacific island nations.

However, Queensland's Court of Appeal last year quashed the conviction after Mr Marten's family obtained flight records which proved he was not in Port Moresby on the dates the girl alleged the offence occurred.

In a statement of claim lodged in the Queensland Supreme Court in Cairns on Monday, Mr Marten's legal team allege a team of officers from the AFP's Transnational Crime Unit based in Port Moresby "maliciously prosecuted" their client.