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A HIGH COURT JUDGE ruled that a TT Coast Guard (TTCG) officer was unlawfully denied promotion and ordered the state to pay $175,000 in damages after finding that flawed performance appraisals and an unproven incident involving a missing weapon were wrongly used against him.

In a ruling on December 30, Justice Kevin Ramcharan held that Coast Guard Lt (Naval) Chevon Diaz was wrongly denied promotion to acting lieutenant commander and that irrelevant and unsupported allegations tainted decisions affecting his seniority, pay and career progression.

Diaz, who has served in the TTCG for about 18 years, brought judicial review and constitutional proceedings against the commanding officer of the Coast Guard, the Defence Force Commissions Board and the Attorney General. He argued that he should have been promoted in line with established practice, that junior officers were promoted ahead of him, that adverse appraisals relied on an incident for which he was not responsible, and that he was unfairly denied the Efficiency Medal.