City lawyer Ambrose Rachier has sued the anti-graft agency over investigations of his law firm's accounts on allegations of receiving irregular payment from the Kitui government.
The lawyer said the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission unlawfully obtained an order to investigate his accounts from a chief magistrate's court.
The law firm and its lawyers complained they were never given a chance to make representations explaining the reasons of obtaining the orders.
As a result of this, the court was told, the rights of the partners in the law firm have been violated.
The court was told that the adverse orders were obtained through material non-disclosure of an earlier and similar application filed by the CID Kitui.
The order was for the purpose of investigating the law firm's account over allegations of receiving irregular payment from Kitui government's salaries account between September 2015 and January this year.
The court was told that the money in question was received as a result of an error through mistaken transfer made by the Central Bank of Kenya, which on being brought to the attention of the law firm was transferred back to CBK.
Consequently, the orders sought by EACC had been overtaken by events and are misconceived as there is no such money in the possession of the law firm warranting investigations.
EACC in its response said it received intelligence report that Sh20 million was transferred into the law firm's account.
It said it could not give prior notice to the law firm because it was carrying out a covert operation.
It also said it believes the money transferred from the county government to various accounts was to misappropriate and embezzle public funds hence perpetuating an economic crime.