Property Owner Applies to Lift Order Blocking Lawyer's Prosecution in Sh45m Villa Case

Nairobi woman Monica Jackline Wambui has applied to join judicial review proceedings filed by her former advocate, seeking to lift an order that currently blocks his prosecution over the disputed sale of her Sh45 million villa.

The property in question is House No 6, Casablanca Villas, located on Dennis Pritt Road in Nairobi, which Wambui accuses her former lawyer, Chege Wainaina, of transferring using a fraudulent power of attorney while she was hospitalised for a mental illness.

Wainaina and property buyer Lucy Wairimu Mwangi had separately moved to court seeking to quash a decision to charge, summon and prosecute them in a related criminal case, Milimani MCCR/E328/2026, Republic versus Chege Wainaina and Lucy Wairimu Mwangi. The pair has already secured interim directions in that matter.

Wambui's application seeks to have those interim orders lifted so that the criminal case against her former advocate can proceed, reopening a dispute that has stretched on for 17 years across both the High Court and the Environment and Land Court.

In her separate civil suit at the Environment and Land Court, Wambui is seeking to cancel the transfer of the villa, naming Wainaina, Mwangi and the Chief Land Registrar as respondents in the case.

According to court documents, Wambui says she handed over several original documents to her advocate, including title papers for the Casablanca Villa and a separate Dennis Pritt Road property, along with her marriage certificate, national identity card, passport and bank statements.

She says the documents were surrendered so Wainaina could prepare a matrimonial property portfolio and handle divorce proceedings on her behalf, only for the title to the Dennis Pritt Road property to later be redeemed from I&M Bank without her authorisation.

Wambui says her health deteriorated during the period in question and that she was admitted to Nairobi Hospital for treatment, a detail central to her claim that she was not in a position to authorise the property transfer.

Investigators have valued the disputed Casablanca Villa at about Sh45 million, and the draft charge sheet filed in court proposes charges of conspiracy to defraud, forgery and related offences against Wainaina and Mwangi.

The judge handling the Environment and Land Court case certified Wambui's application as urgent and directed the respondents to file their responses, with both the civil and judicial review proceedings now pending hearing and determination.

The case adds to a string of recent property disputes moving through Nairobi's courts involving multimillion shilling homes, title irregularities and allegations against legal professionals entrusted with handling sensitive property transactions.