A court dismissed a bid by the Assets Recovery Agency (ARA) to seize Sh572 million from former Nairobi governor Mike Sonko’s bank accounts. The agency had targeted ten accounts belonging to Sonko at Equity Bank, Diamond Trust Bank and Co-operative Bank, which held a combined Sh24.9 million at the time of freezing. The balances included Sh4.2 million, Sh2.9 million, Sh2.6 million and Sh1.4 million in separate Equity Bank accounts, Sh2.2 million at Diamond Trust Bank Sh1.1 million at Co-operative Bank and additional foreign currency balances amounting to over Sh8 millionARA argued that between 2017 and 2019, Sonko received large and suspicious cash deposits in those accounts, which it believed were proceeds of crime and evidence of money laundering. N. KUNDUTSI “A” for Sh175 million, and several others ranging between Sh24 million and Sh53 million. Sonko further explained that part of the money had been placed in various bank accounts years before he became Nairobi Governor, and therefore could not be linked to abuse of office.