The High Court has thrown out Kiambu Governor Paul Kimani Wamatangi’s challenge to a KSh813.1 million asset recovery case filed against him by the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC). Justice Rose Ougo threw out applications by Wamatangi and other defendants seeking to have the case thrown out, allowing the civil recovery case to proceed.

Wamatangi had asked the court to throw out the case on the grounds that it was sub judice after a different set of conservatory orders had been issued against him in a related constitutional petition. However, Justice Ougo said the governor had failed to prove that the two cases were related.

“The first defendant (Wamatangi) has only informed the court that the suit hearing is sub judice to the constitutional petition, without providing documents that the issues and parties are the same,” the judge said.

EACC said the conservatory orders in the earlier petition only stopped the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions from charging Wamatangi. However, they did not bar the commission from pursuing a civil suit seeking to recover money the governor allegedly acquired through corruption. Wamatangi also sought to use parliamentary privilege to the claims, which he said were related to his time at the helm of the Senate Standing Committee on Roads, Transportation and Housing. Justice Ougo said the governor was wrong to claim parliamentary privilege, saying the immunity only applied to sitting senators, not staff.

EACC filed a suit in October 2025 seeking to recover KSh813,145,532.40 from Wamatangi and 13 other defendants. The commission alleges that the money came from road contracts awarded to firms affiliated with the governor by Kenya National Highways Authority (KeNHA), Kenya Urban Roads Authority (KURA) and Kenya Rural Roads Authority (KeRRA) during the 2018/19 and 2021/22 financial years.

In particular, Wamatangi is accused of influencing the award of some of the tenders. He is also accused of remaining a signatory to the bank accounts of the firms, despite knowing their modus operandi.

The allegations against Wamatangi have not been proven in court, and the governor and his colleagues have denied the charges. Justice Ougo said allegations of fraud, misrepresentation and falsification of documents would need to be proved in a trial, rather than at the preliminary stage.

In addition to freezing the bank accounts of the defendants, Justice Ougo also extended the interim orders restraining them from dealing with their assets. EACC’s application for injunctions will be heard on November 12, 2026. In the meantime, the defendants were granted leave to appeal the latest developments in the case. However, the case does not go before the court to determine whether Wamatangi or any of the other defendants are guilty of any crime. It simply allows the asset recovery case to proceed to the next stage.