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Nairobi Governor Mike Sonko yesterday got a reprieve after a court asked the Asset Recovery Agency (ARA) to unfreeze his five bank accounts.

In her ruling, Milimani Chief Magistrate Martha Mutuku dismissed ARA’s application, saying the decision by the agency to continuing using an illegal order that lapsed on December 23, 2019 to freeze Sonko’s bank accounts was in bad faith.

“The continued freezing of the accounts will be highly prejudicial to the holders of the accounts and I therefore, direct the unfreezing of the accounts by the agency,” ruled Mutuku. 

The magistrate said some of the bank accounts do not even belong to the governor himself but to the people alleged to be associated with him.

The accounts were frozen in December 2019 by ARA following claims of suspicious money transactions believed to be proceeds of crime “as a result of theft from Nairobi County government”. 

Sonko, through Harrison Kinyanjui, had challenged the freeze orders.

 Also frozen are accounts held in the name of Antony Mwaura, Rose Njeri, Toddy Engineering Company Limited, Hardi Enterprises Limited and Brigit Wamaitha.

Mwaura and his wife Njeri were charged alongside Sonko in the Sh357 million garbage collection tender case.