Why AG is seeking to lift orders blocking prosecution of sons of Karugu, lawyers over Will forgery

Attorney General Dorcas Oduor has asked the High Court to lift orders blocking the prosecution of two lawyers, a pastor, two siblings and two others over the alleged forgery of the will of former Attorney General James Boro Karugu.

The AG terms the Petition seeking to halt criminal investigations and possible prosecution application by Kaplan & Stratton advocate Peter Mbuthia Gachuhi, two sons of Karugu and four suspects incompetent, misconceived, bad in law, and an abuse of Court process.

"Petition seeking to quash the prosecution is frivolous, vexatious and an abuse of the court process and does not particularise and/or raise a cause of action against the suspects," the AG told the court. 

The suspects, the state says, manipulated key documents, including a last will and a trust deed, in an attempt to disinherit Karugu’s children from his multi-billion-shilling estate.

In a response to the petition by lawyers William Kimani Richu and Peter Mbuthia Gachuhi, Jane Wangechi Kabiu(Karugu's Company Secretary), Eliud Karugu Gatambi and Pastor Joshua Mwaura Kimani of the Full Gospel Churches of Kenya in Nyandarua, the AG maintains that the petitioners have failed to meet the legal threshold required for the extension of conservatory orders blocking their prosecution.

Oduor, who has backed DPP Renson Ingonga and DCI boss Amin Mohammed's decision to arrest and prosecute the suspect over forgery allegations, adds that the suspects have not established a prima facie case with a likelihood of success and have equally failed to demonstrate real, imminent, or irreparable prejudice that cannot be adequately addressed through the criminal process.

The State further argues that staying investigations would unjustifiably impede the lawful constitutional mandate of investigative and prosecutorial agencies, including the Directorate of Criminal Investigations and the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions. 

"The Applicants are seeking to unlawfully stay a criminal process without demonstrating illegality, malice, or abuse of power,” the AG says, insisting that the existence of a succession cause does not bar criminal investigations into alleged forgery.

On the substantive petition, the Attorney General maintains that forgery is a criminal offence under the Penal Code and falls squarely within the criminal justice system, adding that the petitioners have not demonstrated any violation of constitutional rights. 

“It is trite that the Court ought not to usurp the Constitutional mandate of the investigative authorities to investigate any matter that, in their view raises suspicion of the occurrence or imminent occurrence of a crime,” the AG says.

The AG ultimately urges the court to dismiss the petition with costs, terming it frivolous, vexatious and an abuse of the court process.

Senior Counsel Fred Ojiambo, a senior partner at Kaplan & Stratton, which is associated with Mbuthia, appeared in court to defend a law firm partner facing allegations of forgery in a dispute over the estate of the late businessman James Boro Karugu.

The matter came up before Justice Bahati Mwamuye, where Ojiambo sought additional time, telling the court he had not been served with the relevant documents.

“I have not been served,” Ojiambo said, urging the court to grant him more time to respond.

The developments arise from a Notice of Motion dated February 17, 2026, filed by Karugu's firstborn daughter, Victoria Nyambura Karugu, seeking to be enjoined in the case as an interested party in the case.

"Nyambura is a sibling to 1st and 2nd petitioners (Eric Mwaura and Benjamin Githara), the first daughter of the late James Boro Karugu, a legitimate beneficiary of his estate and an objector in High Court succession cause No. E916 of 2023, which has been mentioned extensively in this matter," the application states in part.

Through her lawyer Senior Counsel Phillip Murgor, she also says that she is already a complainant in another criminal proceeding against some of the accused persons, including her two brothers, Githara, Mwaura and a former company secretary to her deceased father, Jane Wangechi Kabiu, charged jointly with conspiring to defraud her shares by fraudulently transferring them from Mathara holdings limited to Centurion limited.

Nyambura urges the High Court to allow her to participate in the case as she is also the main complainant in the Inquiry file number 47 of 2025, in which criminal investigations into the suspected forgery of her father's last will as a settlement Trust Deed, both dated April 2, 2014, have been ongoing since June 2023

The court papers show that Ms Nyambura, Karugu’s daughter, told investigators she had managed her father’s affairs after he developed dementia.

She insisted that a 2010 will drafted by Patel & Patel Advocates “reflected his true wishes,” dismissing the 2014 document as “riddled with errors uncharacteristic of his precision.” 

In court documents, Murgor also argues that the High Court has not issued any such authority, or any order to the 5th Petitioner or the firm of Kaplan & Stratton to continue to hold the original Will.

He further alleged attempts to interfere with ongoing criminal investigations, citing a December 18, 2025, letter in which Ojiambo, acting for purported executors, proposed that the examination of the documents could be done jointly by experts chosen by the respective parties at a location of mutual convenience.

"That the motive of the 5 petitioners, Dr Fred Ojiambo SC and Kaplan & Stratton, is to be found in the very profitable retainer by the purported Executors in the forged Will and Trust dated April 2, 2014, to Kaplan & Stratton, which would last at the very least for the lifetime of the 5th Respondent, if not longer. Indeed, the Assets of the deceased would be placed under the direct control of Kaplan & Stratton until its full depletion, to the grave prejudice of the legitimate beneficiaries, including myself. Ironically, not a single member of Kaplan & Stratton,” court documents read in part.

Meanwhile the suspects appear to have panicked and have appointed senior counsel Fred Ojiambo the senior partner of Kaplan to argue their case, notwithstanding the conflict of interest facing him, and the firm for questionable conduct in the fraud and its coverup for the last 2 years, during which Ojiambo refused to hand over the will claiming to have a court order to prevent the DCI from having access.

Karugu, who served as Attorney General from 1980 to 1981, died in November 2022 at his Kiamara farm.

Weeks after his burial, a will dated April 2, 2014, and a trust deed establishing the JBK Foundation were presented to family members at a Kiambu hotel.

Karugu’s daughter, Victoria Nyambura, disputed the authenticity of the documents, claiming they were unknown during her father’s lifetime and only emerged posthumously.

Her complaints prompted a DCI investigation that eventually led to forgery charges against six individuals: Karugu’s son Eric Charles Mwaura Karugu, Jane Wangechi Kabiu, Lawyers William Kimani Richu and Peter Mbuthia Gachuhi, Eliud Mwaura Gatambia, and Pastor Joshua Mwaura Kimani.

Investigators, upon probing the matter, allege the suspects were involved in falsifying key estate documents, including a will dated April 2, 2014, and a trust deed establishing the JBK Foundation, presented weeks after Karugu’s burial at his Kiamara farm in November 2022.

Chief Inspector Duncan Maina, acting on behalf of the DPP and DCI, in an affidavit filed in court, has highlighted multiple irregularities in the documents, noting grammatical, arithmetic, and spelling errors inconsistent with Karugu’s meticulous standards.

He added that the will and trust deed contained page-number anomalies and pagination breaks, suggesting a cut-and-paste assembly, while forensic analysis confirmed that the initials on the will and trust deed were forged and that the signature page was fraudulently attached to the document.

Investigators also observed that execution pages bore “deliberate obscurity”, concealing page numbers, raising suspicions of tampering.

Describing Karugu as an “impeccable lawyer,” investigators questioned how a single document could exhibit erratic numbering, suggesting it was assembled from multiple sources.

These findings led to a December 23, 2025, directive by DPP Renson Ingonga approving charges of forgery, uttering false documents, and conspiracy to defraud against the suspects. 

Judge Mwamuye directed that the case be mentioned on March 16 for further directions.