- On February 6, Justice Luka Kimaru froze ten of Sonko's accounts holding around Sh18 million.
- The order was granted after the Assets Recovery Agency said they were suspicious cash deposits and withdrawals between 2017 and 2019.
Image: CAROLYNE KUBWA
The High Court will on July 29 rule on whether it will set aside orders freezing Nairobi Governor Mike Sonko’s bank accounts.
Justice Jessie Lessit set the date after parties made their submissions on Monday.
Sonko has claimed that he is unable to buy groceries and support his family owing to the existing freeze of his accounts.
On February 6, Justice Luka Kimaru froze ten of Sonko's accounts holding around Sh18 million.
The funds are at Equity Bank, Diamond Trust Bank and another in another account at Cooperative Bank of Kenya.
The order was granted after the Assets Recovery Agency said there were suspicious cash deposits and withdrawals between 2017 and 2019.
In one of the accounts holding Sh4.2 million, there were 35 deposits and withdrawals totaling Sh45 million between July 2017 and March 2019.
The county chief argued that the orders were obtained for extraneous reasons because there was no evidence the money originated from proceeds of crime.
“The agency did not furnish the court with any compelling grounds or proof to raise reasonable suspicion with respect to any fraudulent transaction related to his bank accounts in question. It only made unsubstantiated claims,” Sonko says in his application.
He argues that the order issued by Kimaru cannot exceed 14 days yet ARA continues to rely on it to freeze his accounts. He says the order ceased to have any life as it was never extended from the time it was originally issued.
The court heard that Sonko was not the governor at the time the agency claims funds were lost from the county.
“It is not enough for the agency to merely make allegations based on wild unspecified suspicions and I believe that the burden of proof lies with them to make out a strong case based on verifiable facts,” he says.
Sonko urges the court to set aside the orders issued by Kimaru and for the court to strike out the ARA's application.
“I have never received any summons, telephone call or even a request in writing by the agency to date to explain any deposit, withdrawal, transfer or transaction of the frozen accounts,” read his court documents.
Edited by Henry Makori