High Court upholds Scotiabank’s right to close WIN candidate’s account

The High Court has dismissed a legal challenge brought by We Invest in Nationhood (WIN) candidate Gobin Harbhajan against Scotiabank over the closure of his bank account, ruling that the bank acted within the terms of its contract.

In a decision handed down on Tuesday, Justice Nicola Pierre found that Scotiabank was entitled to terminate the account under the Personal Financial Services Agreement, which formed part of the account application.

The agreement allows the bank to end banking services without providing a reason, once 30 days’ notice is given. The court held that this contractual provision grants the bank an unconditional right to terminate and does not require any assessment or justification for the decision.

The court also declined to issue declarations sought by Harbhajan regarding the status of the WIN party. These included claims that WIN remains separate from its individual members and that no sanctions have been imposed on the party or its candidates. Justice Pierre ruled that no evidence was presented to support those assertions. In assessing the claim of political discrimination, Justice Pierre ruled that while Harbhajan established that his account was closed and that he is a WIN candidate, he failed to prove that political opinion was the reason for the termination. The judge noted that assertions that all WIN members’ accounts were closed were unsupported by evidence and insufficient to establish causation.

The court also dismissed allegations of non-compliance with the AMLCFT Act.