Court declines jurisdiction in search warrant challenge
30:09:2025: A Magistrate’s Court in Nairobi has declined jurisdiction in a challenge mounted by Felista Wanjiru Wandugi against a search warrant obtained by the Commission in an ongoing corruption investigation.
The Court ruled that the matter raises issues better suited for judicial review or constitutional interpretation before the High Court.
The Commission had moved the Court ex parte on April 30, 2025, seeking several orders, including the issuance of a search warrant authorizing its investigator to search Ms. Wandugi’s premises in connection with investigations into alleged corruption by public officer David Mbogo Muthee.
Mr. Muthee, investigations established, had acquired Kes510 million through abuse of office and related offences, and EACC suspected Ms. Wandugi to be an accomplice.
The Court granted key prayers, allowing the search and seizure operation to be conducted between 6 a.m. and 6 p.m., and dispensed with the requirement for endorsement by a local court.
Following the execution of the warrant, Ms. Wandugi, through her counsel on the mention date of May 15th, challenged the legality of the search, citing violations of her rights to privacy and protection from self-incrimination. She also questioned the lawfulness of the search procedure.
In response, EACC maintained that the search was conducted lawfully, and argued that the Court had become functus officio following execution of the warrant.
The Court, in a ruling delivered on September 16th, however, ruled that it did not become functus officio after issuing the warrant. Nonetheless, Principal Magistrate, the Hon. Charles Ondieki, found that the questions raised by the Respondent primarily involved constitutional rights and judicial review matters that fall outside the narrow criminal jurisdiction of the Magistrate’s Court in relation to search warrants.
“The Court has been invited to exercise its criminal jurisdiction on juridical issues which fall outside the prescribed jurisdiction. I accordingly down my tools,” the Court ruled, and struck out the challenge.
