A police officer who took legal action after he was passed over for promotion four years ago has been elevated in rank.

David Bhagwan was among seven sergeants who became inspectors at a formal ceremony this month.

It came after a ruling rejecting claims that he had been the victim of discrimination during promotion procedures in 2018 was upheld by the Court of Appeal.

A Bermuda Police Service spokeswoman said last week: “Following the completion of the 2022 promotion process, Mr Bhagwan was promoted to the rank of inspector.”

She added that the officer was successful in this year’s round of promotions.

The spokeswoman said: “Most officers who have been promoted will have failed a promotion process during their careers.”

Mr Bhagwan earlier called for a judicial review into BPS promotion procedures after failing to pass the sergeant-to-inspector interview panel in 2018.

He complained that the process had been flawed and that Assistant Commissioner of Police Martin Weekes should have recused himself on the basis of an appearance of bias against him and Caribbean police officers.

His claim was thrown out by Chief Justice Narinder Hargun after a Supreme Court case in 2021.

The Court of Appeal ruled in June this year that none of Mr Bhagwan’s grounds for appeal “presented any basis for departing from the findings in the judgment in relation to the issues raised by them”.

In his appeal, Mr Bhagwan alleged that the methodology used to calculate scores for the promotions exam was “illegal and irrational”.

But the judges concluded: “The evidence was that it was a tried and proven assessment tool which had been used for a number of previous rounds of assessment for promotion, going back to 2012.”

During the initial hearing it was agreed that Mr Bhagwan’s final interview score of 55 per cent in 2018 was an error and that it should have been amended to 56.68 per cent — still below the pass mark of 60 per cent.

In his appeal, Mr Bhagwan complained that Mr Justice Hargun was wrong to become involved in calculating the correct score.

This argument was also dismissed by the appeal judges.

Another ground for appeal related to a claim that one of the civilian assessors on the promotions panel was not qualified because he had failed to attend a training workshop.

But Justice of Appeal Anthony Smellie said in a written ruling that the evidence to support the suggestion was “rather vague“ and had been strongly denied by Mr Weekes and Mr Payne.

The judge also noted that, during the Supreme Court hearing, Mr Bhagwan’s allegations against Mr Weekes of personal bias dated to a 2007 incident which Mr Bhagwan had not flagged up until 11 years later.

It was also established that Mr Bhagwan had not objected to Mr Weekes’s presence on the promotions panel, even though he had an opportunity to do so.

Mr Bhagwan last week declined to comment.

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