Former police officer awarded €61,000 over 2016 promotion discrimination

Former police superintendent, Raymond D’Anastas, has been awarded €61,000 in damages after a court ruled that he had been discriminated against when excluded from a promotion to assistant commissioner. 

The case goes back to 2016, when D'Anastas had applied for the position but was passed over, prompting him to seek recourse through the Ombudsman and later the courts, claiming unfair treatment.

In 2021, the Ombudsman had ruled that the decision to pass certain officers in the selection process appeared to have been a personal choice of the former police commissioner Lawrence Cutajar.

In light of this, the Ombudsman had recommended that the Police Commissioner reopen applications for this rank, allowing officers in the complainants situation to resubmit their application for the post. At the time, a €15,000 compensation was suggested by the Ombudsman.

On Thursday, a court concluded that the selection process unfairly favoured certain candidates, depriving D'Anastas of a fair chance at promotion. However, Judge Joanne Vella Cuschieri clarified that this did not imply that those promoted were undeserving, but that others, like D’Anastas, were unjustly overlooked.

D’Anastas argued for compensation based on loss of earnings and a lower police pension, estimating his losses at €112,000 over 20 years. The court awarded him just over half of that amount, noting that even without discrimination, promotion was not guaranteed.

The court also reasoned that calculating pension losses over 20 years was speculative and uncertain, leading the court to reduce the compensation accordingly.

Lawyer David Bonello represented the plaintiff.

PN says court decision confirms lack of meritocracy

Reacting to the sentence on Thursday, the Nationalist party stated that the court decision trashes claims of meritocracy made by the Labour government. 

“This is yet another judgement that exposes the Labour Government.”

The PN expressed solidarity for police officers who want change in the way that the police force is led.

“A new Nationalist Government is the only hope for this to happen.”