Nairobi Governor Mike Sonko. PHOTO | FILE | NATION MEDIA GROUP
Nairobi Governor Mike Sonko Thursday suffered a blow after the
High Court froze his 10 accounts, holding about Sh18 million, suspected
to have been stolen from the county.
The freezing order
was granted two days after the embattled governor successfully argued
for the lifting of an order obtained by the Assets Recovery Agency (ARA)
in December, freezing five of his accounts.
Thursday,
Justice Luka Kimaru froze the accounts pending the filing of an
application for the amount to be forfeited to the government.
The
court barred Mr Sonko from transferring, withdrawing or using the funds
deposited in six accounts at Equity Bank, three at Diamond Trust Bank
and another at Co-operative Bank of Kenya.
In the
application, the agency said there were suspicious cash deposits and
withdrawals between 2017 and 2020, an indication of money laundering
activities.
The agency showed, in court documents, that
in one of the accounts, which holds Sh4.2 million, there were 35
deposits and withdrawals totalling Sh45 million between July 5, 2017 and
March 2, 2019
In yet another account held at Equity Bank, there were total of 12 withdrawals and deposits, all amounting to Sh28.3 million.
On July 2017, Mr Sonko allegedly received Sh3.4 million from Arbab Auto Ltd which was deposited in four different accounts.
ARA
said investigation revealed that most of the deposits were tranches of
below Sh1 million, to evade the reporting threshold of proceeds of Crime
and Anti-Money Laundering Act and Central Bank of Kenya prudential
guidelines.
The agency said there is reasonable grounds to believe that the cash was part of funds stolen from the county government.
“That
as stated, the investigations in this matter has established that the
accounts are holding funds suspected to be proceeds of crime, which
require the accounts to be frozen pending filing and hearing of intended
forfeiture application,” said Mr Jeremiah Sautet, an investigator.
Mr
Sonko had last month pleaded with a magistrate saying he was unable to
access his bank accounts since December 23, a move that was affecting
his family.
Through lawyer Harrison Kinyanjui, Mr Sonko said freezing his accounts was unjust, oppressive and unconstitutional.
He
argued that the court was not given compelling reasons or proof to
raise reasonable suspicion on claims of fraudulent transactions, but
only unsubstantiated allegations. The accounts were later unfrozen by
Chief Magistrate Martha Mutuku because there was no link between the
money and loss of funds at the county.
Mr Sonko was
charged in December together with senior officials in his administration
and was released after posting Sh15 million cash bail.
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