The Assets Recovery Agency has been ordered to unfreeze nine bank accounts said to hold over Ksh537 million belonging to former Nairobi Governor Mike Sonko.
In a ruling delivered on Wednesday, the court cited a lack of evidence by the ARA to prove money laundering claims brought against the former governor.
Speaking after the ruling, Sonko's lawyer, Harrison Kinyanjui, revealed that the agency had failed to prove that he had been involved in pilfering county funds during his tenure as county governor, declaring that the frozen funds did not arise from any criminal activity.
"The Honourable Justice Sifuna has rendered his verdict on the case launched by ARA against the former governor of Nairobi County, Mike Sonko, in which the ARA had sought to freeze on allegations that he was involved in alleged money laundering and pilfering of the county of Nairobi funds," he narrated.
He went on to relay that both parties, the ARA and Sonko, had tendered their evidence, but the judge claimed that having a suspicion that one was involved in the misappropriation of funds was a long way from proving the assertion using hard evidence.
Kinyanjui further relayed that the former governor had managed to prove that he owned businesses and real estate ventures before becoming the county governor.
After analysing the evidence, the lawyer relayed that the court had found no instance of misappropriation of funds and, most importantly, faulted the ARA for having insufficient evidence by failing to provide any of Sonko's transactions before he became the county boss.
The agency had been expected to compare and contradict Sonko's transactions before taking office and after, and highlight any discrepancies.
As such, Kinyanjui reiterated Sonko's assertions that the case against him was a witch-hunt to besmirge his name and facilitate his impeachment in 2020.
"So the Court has finally said that whatever money had been frozen for the past five years, belonging to Governor Sonko, is part of his property," Kinyanjui stated.
"Article 40(3) of the Constitution vests in every Kenyan the right to own property, but Article 40(6) does not protect property that is illegally acquired. The ARA was unable to prove and demonstrate that any money held by Governor Sonko in the accounts that were frozen was acquired illegally."
Since his ouster from city hall in 2020, the former governor has been entangled in multiple legal battles. In December 2024, Justice Sifuna overturned his acquittal in another Ksh357 million graft case, citing that the previous magistrate erroneously relied on an amended charge sheet to acquit Sonko and 16 others.
Earlier this year, in January, Principal Magistrate Charles Ondieki found that the former governor had a case to answer in 11 counts of Ksh24 million graft charges relating to conflict of interest, abuse of office, and money laundering.
