Brexit’s Nigel Farage will launch legal proceedings against the NatWest bank and its former chief executive, seeking millions in damages over the infamous debanking scandal that saw his accounts shut down and his personal banking details leaked to the press.
Nigel Farage has instructed the London-based Grosvenor Law firm to launch a suit against NatWest and its former boss Dame Alison Rose, who resigned in disgrace after leaking his financial details to the BBC in an apparent attempt to justify the state-backed bank’s decision to close his accounts at its subsidiary Coutts for failing to “align” with the bank’s political stances.
According to Sky News, Mr Farage is expected to seek millions in recompense for the damage to his reputation and to cover his legal costs.
In a statement issued to the broadcaster on Saturday morning, the Brexit leader said: “For all their lies and deceptions towards me, and their illegitimate debanking of tens of thousands of innocent people, NatWest and its former CEO, Dame Alison Rose, need to be held to account.”
It comes as it was revealed that Dame Alison Rose, who resigned from her position as NatWest CEO in July over the scandal, will not receive her full £10 million-plus severance package.
The bank, which is 40 per cent owned by the British public after receiving a £45.5 billion bailout during the 2008 financial crisis, decided to cancel £7.6 million of her exit payout, meaning that she will receive around £2.4 million in pay and £850,000 in shares.
Although NatWest initially attempted to claim that the move to shut down Mr Farage’s accounts was purely a commercial decision, with Dame Alison Rose telling the BBC that he had fallen below Coutts’ financial threshold, it was later revealed through freedom of information requests that the decision was politically motivated.
It was later revealed that NatWest staff had gloated over the debanking of the Brexit campaigner and had bragged that they had possibly “single-handedly driven him out of the country” by shutting down his bank accounts.
While NatWest initially claimed it had removed Mr Farage’s banking facilities due to a commercial decision, it was later proven through freedom of information releases that this was a lie, and the decision had been reached for political reasons.
A recent report commissioned by NatWest conducted by the Travers Smith law firm found that the decision to shut down Mr Farage’s accounts was legal but that there were “serious failings” in its implementation.
Mr Farage called that report “a whitewash” while previously accusing the law firm as biased given that Travers Smith’s Chair Emeritus, Chris Hale, was an ardent opponent of the Brexit campaign led by Farage, having described the pro-sovereignty independence movement as “racist, xenophobic, and nostalgic.”
In addition to preparing to sue NatWest and Dame Alison Rose, Mr Farage has also launched a campaign to fight for others in Britain who have had their bank accounts closed for political reasons or for preferring to use cash.
The scandal has already appeared to hit NatWest financially, with the state-backed bank seeing its stock fall by nearly one-fifth since last year.