An anti-corruption court has acquitted former Nairobi Governor Mike Sonko in the Ksh357 million graft case.
In a ruling issued on Wednesday, February 7, the court released Sonko and 16 others citing insufficient evidence.
As such, it was ruled that the evidence presented before the court was not sufficient to warrant a conviction.
“The evidence is inadequate to sustain the charges levelled against the accused persons,” Magistrate Eunice Nyutu ruled.
The court further faulted the prosecution for only presenting six witnesses against an earlier indication that the case was built around the testimonies of 38 witnesses.
In the case that has dragged on for over four years, Mike Sonko was accused with 16 others of stealing public resources while he was Nairobi governor.
Sonko and others were accused of embezzling cash to the tune of Ksh357 million meant to undertake Nairobi County Government projects.
The embezzling was alleged to have happened between May 24, 2018 and March 28, 2019, before Mike Sonko’s impeachment as Governor on December 3, 2020.
Two years later, the United States government banned Sonko and his family from travelling to the US over the corruption allegations.
This was the second multimillion-shilling graft case that Mike Sonko was being acquitted of.
In December 2022, an Anti-Corruption Court acquitted Sonko over a Ksh20 million graft case ruling that the prosecution had failed to prove the case beyond reasonable doubt.
The impeachment that arose from the graft cases saw Mike Sonko barred from vying as Mombasa governor in the 2022 general election.