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 2. Practice Areas
 3. Privacy and data


ONTARIO SUPERIOR COURT DISMISSES PRIVACY BREACH CASE AGAINST FINANCIAL DUE
DILIGENCE DATABASE



The case involved a former senior advisor to the Prime Minister of Kenya


BY Angelica Dino 12 Feb 2024
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The Ontario Superior Court of Justice has dismissed an action for defamation and
breach of privacy involving global databases used by financial institutions for
due diligence purposes.

In Miguna v. Sitel Operating Corporation 2024 ONSC 632, the plaintiff brought an
action against Refinitiv Limited, the operator of the World-Check Database, and
Sitel Operating Corporation, a customer service provider for Moneygram.
 Refinitiv’s subscribers are mainly financial institutions obliged by law to
conduct due diligence on certain categories of people before facilitating
transactions. This due diligence is part of an effort in the global financial
system to combat money laundering.

One category of people concerning whom financial institutions must undertake due
diligence are politically exposed persons (PEPs).  Every senior and mid-level
participant in every government worldwide is included in the database as a PEP.



The plaintiff, a lawyer qualified in Ontario and Kenya and a former senior
advisor to the Prime Minister of Kenya, was included in Refinitiv's World-Check
Database as a PEP. The plaintiff claimed this designation led to financial
service denials and detentions at international borders.

After an incident involving Moneygram's refusal to release funds to him in
October 2021, the plaintiff alleged defamation by the database, which aggregates
information from public sources for due diligence purposes.

The Ontario Superior Court of Justice found that the statements in the database
about the plaintiff were true in substance and fact, employing the defence of
justification. For example, the court noted discrepancies in the plaintiff’s
complaints about his portrayal in the database versus publicly available
information, including his memoir and website. The database's entry that the
plaintiff was suspended by the Prime Minister of Kenya in August 2011 for
alleged misconduct was supported by newspaper articles and the plaintiff's
admissions in his memoir.

Additionally, the court highlighted that the database's role in the global
financial system does not require adherence to Canadian definitions of a PEP.
The plaintiff's inclusion in the database as a PEP was deemed appropriate due to
his political role in Kenya.

The court dismissed the plaintiff’s action against Refinitiv, concluding that
all information in the database was sourced from public domains, negating any
breach of privacy claims. Similarly, the claim against Sitel was dismissed
because interactions related to the Moneygram transaction had been settled
through a previous release, and there was no evidence of defamatory statements
made by Sitel employees. The court awarded substantial indemnity costs to the
defendants, totalling $265,000, to be paid by the plaintiff.


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