CTV Calgary has learned that the Chief of Police knew that Sat Parhar was under investigation for obstruction of justice when he promoted him to Deputy Chief.

Deputy Chief Parhar is in charge of the Bureau of Specialized Investigations, which is the area responsible for organized crime, intelligence, and anti-corruption.

According to multiple sources at the police service, one of Parhar's team members blew the whistle in 2014 on alleged misconduct including the falsification of court documents and potential fabrication of evidence. Parhar is accused of ignoring the whistleblower's complaints.

“If a mistake was made, it wasn’t the one thing that would stop you from moving forward,” said Chief Roger Chaffin. “We like to look at their whole career, all the sort of values that they bring to service. In a case like this, should a real serious negative finding be returned, we also have opportunities to deal with that.”

Edmonton faced a controversy in 2014 after an officer was promoted to sergeant despite a criminal record. A public backlash led to a change in the promotion policy there.

The Calgary Police Commission says it's confident in the current process.

CTV attempted to contact Deputy Chief Parhar for an interview. While he did not respond to our email, he did forward our request to the chief, and we received a copy of that email through an access to information request which was heavily redacted. ASIRT has confirmed it is conducting an investigation, but will not comment as the investigation is ongoing.

With files from Jamie Mauracher