The High Court has dismissed an application by the Asset Recovery Agency seeking to freeze former Nairobi County Governor Mike Sonko’s assets.
Justice Nixon Sifuna ruled that ARA had failed to prove that Sonko was involved in money laundering nor stole from county coffers.
“The applicant has failed to prove claims of the respondent’s involvement in money laundering,” the judge ruled.
The judge also faulted the agency for failing to investigate Sonko’s accounts before he became the county boss.
In addition, the court questioned why the agency never produced the county staff and people interviewed in regards to the former governor’s accounts as witnesses.
It was the court’s determination that the assets in question are Sonko’s personal assets that were legitimately acquired.
ARA had brought forth allegations that Sonko was involved in theft of over half a billion county funds.
The agency sought orders to have his assets frozen on suspicious money transactions believed to be proceeds of crime from the alleged theft of over Sh 337 million.
Sonko is alleged to have received millions in kickbacks wired through proxies to his bank accounts.
In his defense, Sonko refuted the allegations claiming that his money was legitimate.
Through lawyer Harrison Kinyanjui, the former county boss tendered evidence showing that even before he was elected he was engaged in businesses, including sale of real estate assets which brought him cash.
It was his submission that the case was nothing more than political witch-hunt of the impeachment process initiated by the former government.
Sonko claimed that the case, which has been in court for five years, was just another tool for his removal from county governorship.
He also clarified that he was not a governor of Nairobi as at January 2017, yet the agency premised its plea for orders on loss of funds at the county from January 2017.
