The High Court has dismissed an application by the Asset Recovery Agency (ARA) seeking to seize Ksh.574 million from bank accounts belonging to former Nairobi Governor Mike Sonko, handing him a major reprieve in a long-running money laundering case.
Justice Nixon Sifuna delivered the ruling on Wednesday, October 1, 2025, rejecting ARA’s bid to confiscate Ksh.574,258,398.74. He ruled that the agency failed to provide evidence linking Sonko to illicit financial dealings and ordered the immediate release of his frozen bank accounts.
Speaking after the verdict, Sonko’s lawyer, Harrison Kinyanjui, said ARA had not met the legal threshold.
“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 misappropriation of the county of Nairobi funds.
“They tendered their evidence, Sonko tendered his evidence, and he said that it is one thing to have suspicion about someone being involved in money laundering and the theft of county government funds, and it’s another thing to prove that indeed those suspicions are based on actual facts, and that indeed there are cases, counts, incidents, and manifest evidence of money laundering and pilfering of county government funds,” Kinyanjui said.
He added that Sonko presented evidence showing he was already engaged in legitimate business ventures before assuming office. The court, after analyzing the evidence, confirmed that Sonko earned income through the sale of real estate assets, which explained the regular deposits into his accounts.
“Most importantly, the court said that the ARA was unable to prove there was any such incident of money laundering because it failed to bring evidence of his financial transactions before he became governor. The court asked what easier task could there be for the ARA, armed with government resources, banking access, and investigative machinery, than to produce Sonko’s financial records before he was governor and compare them with his transactions while in office to show discrepancies or suspicious flows. Yet they failed to do so,” he said.
Kinyanjui further argued that the case was politically motivated, initiated by the former government as a strategy to remove Sonko from office.
He noted that the court reviewed all allegations, including claims that Sonko misused county government funds.
“So, the court finally said that whatever money has been frozen for the last five years, belonging to Governor Sonko, is part of his property. Article 40(3) of the Constitution gives every Kenyan the right to own property. But Article 40(6) makes it clear that property illegally acquired is not protected,” he said.
The ruling effectively ends a five-year battle over Sonko’s frozen accounts, clearing him of the money laundering allegations tied to county funds.
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