Nigel Farage has claimed “the cover up continues” over the truth behind his debanking scandal as he accused lawyers acting for NatWest of a lack of transparency.
The former Brexit Party leader said Travers Smith, the firm that acted for NatWest during its row with him over the closure of his accounts at subsidiary bank Coutts, had failed to provide full disclosure of the material it holds about him.
Mr Farage made a subject access request (SAR) to Travers Smith demanding it hand over all of the information held about him in its files, in the same way that he exposed wrongdoing by NatWest and Coutts by sending SARs to them.
But the response he got consisted largely of references to newspaper and website articles about him, mainly relating to coverage by The Telegraph and others of the unfolding debanking saga last year.
The law firm claims it cannot release all of the information about him that it holds because of legal privilege, namely, that it relates to legal advice, or because it is confidential – something Mr Farage’s own legal advisers contest.
‘The public has a right to know’
Mr Farage, who is in the process of claiming compensation from NatWest for closing his Coutts accounts, told The Telegraph: “The cover up continues. You have to ask yourself why Travers Smith do not want a record of documents relating to the investigation into my debanking to be made public.
“Given the public still own a large share in the bank, we have a right to know. What are Travers Smith trying to hide?”
NatWest will hold its annual general meeting on Tuesday, the first such meeting since The Telegraph exposed the debanking scandal last year. Dame Alison Rose, the NatWest chief executive, and Coutts boss Peter Flavel resigned following The Telegraph’s disclosures.
Mr Farage’s accounts were closed after Coutts staff said his values did not align with those of the bank.
Dan Morrison, of Grosvenor Law, who is advising Mr Farage in his claim against NatWest, said: “If NatWest wanted to be transparent, they could simply instruct Travers Smith to disclose the documents concerning Nigel. They have not done so.
“Instead, Travers Smith claim that their documents cannot be disclosed because they are either privileged because they constitute legal advice – which they do not, because Travers Smith was not giving legal advice, they were investigating the Bank’s decision-making – or because they are confidential – which they are not, the documents concern Nigel so cannot be confidential to the Bank or its advisers.”
Travers Smith declined to comment.
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