When Jeffrey Sila Ndungi was jailed in the US over a syndicate involving hacking, the Asset Recovery Authority (ARA) thought it had a field day.

ARA moved to the anti-corruption High Court in 2021 claiming that Sh14 million in ABSA Bank Kenya should be forfeited to the government.

The agency relied on the judgment and court documents from US as part of its argument that Ndungi had received over Sh50 million, which it believed was proceeds of crime.

Three years later, a fatal blunder by ARA had the court rule in favour of Ndungi. Justice Esther Maina has now ordered that the money that had been frozen be released to him. According to her, ARA never explained how and where it got the information.

At the same time, Justice Maina said there was no evidence whether ARA was acting on behalf of Kenyan government or was acting upon the request by the American government.