Judge rejects YK accountant’s request to halt disciplinary hearing

An NWT Supreme Court justice has rejected a Yellowknife accountant’s request to prevent a disciplinary hearing from proceeding.

Chartered Professional Accountants NWT/Nunavut – the regulatory body for accountants in the territories – decided in November 2025 to hold a disciplinary hearing into a complaint the Town of Norman Wells made against EPR Yellowknife Accounting Professional Corporation and its president, Biswanath Chakrabarty.

Chakrabarty then asked the court to intervene and quash that decision.

In a written decision on Tuesday, Justice Annie Piché ruled Chakrabarty’s request is premature given the early stage of the hearing process.

Piché said a member has the right to appeal the outcome of a disciplinary hearing under the Chartered Professional Accountants Act, but the act does not allow judges to review a decision to refer a complaint to a disciplinary hearing unless there are exceptional circumstances.

“This is not one of those rare and exceptional cases where an early intervention of this court is necessary to prevent an injustice,” she wrote.

Norman Wells’ complaint relates to a review report EPR completed regarding the town’s payroll and corporate credit card use between 2015 and 2018.

Double punishment argument can be raised at hearing

Chakrabarty’s lawyer had argued allowing the discipinary hearing to take place would amount to double punishment, as concerns with the report had been addressed through a previous complaint.

The first complaint, filed in 2021 by Catherine Mallon, the town’s former administrative officer, alleged EPR had failed to explain the report was a review-level report rather than a forensic audit.

That complaint was resolved later that year through mediation and a press release issued in 2022 that included an apology to Mallon.

The lawyer for CPA NWT/NU had argued the second complaint, launched by the Town of Norman Wells in 2023, involves other issues that have not been addressed.

In its complaint, the town said it believed the report was a forensic audit and only learned about it being a review from EPR’s press release, which devalued the report.

The town had relied on the report in a since-abandoned lawsuit against Mallon.

In her Tuesday ruling, Justice Piché said Chakrabarty can raise arguments regarding double punishment during the disciplinary hearing into the town’s complaint.

In a separate but related case in September, the NWT Supreme Court dismissed a $26.6-million lawsuit Chakrabarty and EPR filed against the Town of Norman Wells that alleged the town’s complaint to CPA NWT/NU was designed to caused reputational harm.

Justice Karin Taylor concluded the regulatory process is the proper avenue to address EPR’s allegation.

“At the very least, EPR should be waiting until the conclusion of the complaint process to determine if there are any residual issues that can or should be put before the court,” she concluded.

Chakrabarty is the head of Range Lake Developments Ltd, which owns the building that Cabin Radio leases.