Kenya Insights

Tag: Justice Isaac Lenaola

  • JSC Acknowledges Petition Against Justice Lenaola as Legal Documents Reveal Estate Fraud Allegations

    JSC Acknowledges Petition Against Justice Lenaola as Legal Documents Reveal Estate Fraud Allegations

    New court filings show detailed accusations of judicial misconduct in multi-billion shilling inheritance case

    The Judicial Service Commission has officially acknowledged receipt of the petition seeking removal of Supreme Court Judge Isaac Lenaola, assigning it JSC Petition No. 52 of 2025, as new legal documents reveal serious allegations of estate fraud and judicial impropriety.

    According to court documents seen by Kenya Insights, Victoria Naishorua Keen’s petition contains explosive allegations that Justice Lenaola served as an executor and administrator of her late father John Keen’s estate while simultaneously holding judicial office – a role she argues constitutes gross misconduct warranting his removal from the Supreme Court bench.

    Fraud allegations

    The legal filing reveals that Victoria Keen accuses Justice Lenaola of conducting himself “as a professional executor/trustee in the Estate of the Deceased” from 2017 until his appointment as Supreme Court Judge in November 2020.

    The petition alleges this conduct “amounts to gross misconduct for which the said Justice Lenaola should be removed as a Supreme Court Judge of Kenya.”

    Most significantly, the documents indicate that Victoria Keen has filed “JSC Petition No. 52 of 2025 for removal before the Judicial Service Commission” and references substantial annexures including what appears to be “pages 1594-1751 of the indexed bundle of annexures marked VNK” dated April 8, 2025.

    The petition further alleges difficulties in accessing company registry files and documentation, suggesting potential obstruction in investigating the estate matters.

    Victoria Keen states she has “recently sought for certified copies of all documentation in respect of J. Keen Investments Limited for closer consideration” and reserves her position regarding “purported transactions” involving the estate.

    Constitutional violations alleged

    The legal documents show Victoria Keen arguing that Justice Lenaola’s involvement in estate administration while serving as a judge violates multiple constitutional provisions and judicial conduct standards.

    The petition appears to suggest that the judge’s dual role as both estate executor and judicial officer created inherent conflicts of interest that compromised judicial integrity.

    Prominent lawyer Nelson Havi has publicly supported the petition, stating on social media: “A Judge of the Supreme Court should not accept to be an executor of a will or an administrator of an estate. It is even worse to meddle in the estate of a deceased. Justice Isaac Lenaola crossed the line. He should be removed and charged in Court for fraud.”

    Havi’s comments, accompanied by images of the legal documents, have amplified public discussion about judicial ethics and the boundaries of acceptable conduct for Supreme Court justices.

    In an official communication dated April 17, 2025, the JSC Secretariat acknowledged receipt of “the petition by Victoria Naishorua Keen for removal from office of Hon. Justice Isaac Lenaola, SCJ” and confirmed assignment of petition number 52 of 2025.

    The acknowledgment, sent to legal representatives at Murgor & Murgor Advocates, indicates the formal constitutional process for judicial removal has begun.

    Under Article 168 of the Constitution, the JSC must now evaluate whether the allegations meet the threshold for recommending formation of an investigative tribunal.

    Family disputes

    The late John Keen was a prominent Kenyan politician and conservationist whose multi-billion shilling estate has apparently become the subject of complex family and legal disputes. The documents suggest ongoing challenges in estate administration, with references to difficulties accessing business registration records and corporate documentation.

    Victoria Keen’s legal team at Murgor & Murgor Advocates has indicated they will file additional affidavits and statements as the constitutional process unfolds.

    This case raises fundamental questions about judicial ethics and the extent to which Supreme Court justices can engage in private legal and business matters.

    Legal experts note that the Constitution requires judges to maintain the highest standards of integrity and avoid situations that could compromise public confidence in the judiciary.

    The petition’s progression through the JSC will be closely watched as a test of Kenya’s judicial accountability mechanisms and could establish important precedents for future cases involving alleged judicial misconduct.

    The JSC now faces the constitutional mandate to review the petition’s merits and determine whether the allegations warrant formation of a special tribunal to investigate Justice Lenaola.

    If the commission finds sufficient grounds, it must recommend to the President the establishment of such a tribunal, which could lead to the judge’s suspension pending investigation.

    Justice Lenaola has not publicly responded to the allegations, and attempts to reach his office for comment have been unsuccessful.

  • Justice Lenaola Sucked Into Keen Property Inheritance Row

    Justice Lenaola Sucked Into Keen Property Inheritance Row

    • Naishorua, the first of at least 14 children of Keen, has through Counsel Murgor has also claimed that Justice Lenaola and the late Maina Wachira also colluded and transferred a prime property
    • Land, LR No. 2259/564, was transferred just 11 days before Keen died and Murgor has argued that he therefore could not have known or appreciated the contents of the complex legal document

    Supreme Court Judge Justice Isaac Lenaola and the late former assistant minister John Keen’s daughter have been accused of transferring 43 immovable properties worth Sh1.48 billion and further withdrew Sh89 million from various banks belonging to the deceased.

    In an application filed by Keen’s firstborn daughter Victoria Naishorua Keen through Senior Counsel Philip Murgor the daughter stated that even after filing the Petition for Probate of Written Will of February 2017, and while various applications were pending before the High Court in Nairobi by beneficiaries for reasonable provision, the late lawyer Maina Wachira in collusion with the Lenaola, Rosemary Sanau

    Keen and Pamela Soila Keen fraudulently transferred the properties and withdrew cash from the bank accounts.

    Naishorua, the first of at least 14 children of Keen, has through Counsel Murgor has also claimed that Justice Lenaola and the late Maina Wachira also colluded and transferred a prime property in the exclusive Karen suburb valued at Sh45 million in December 2016 when Keen was extremely ill and literally on his death bed.

    Keen had allegedly left a Will with Maina Wachira of Maina Wachira Company Advocates, and Keen died on December 25, 2016 at the age of 88.

    The late John Keen.

    The land, LR No. 2259/564, was transferred just 11 days before Keen died and Murgor has argued that he therefore could not have known or appreciated the contents of the complex legal document that he was appending his signature to, if indeed the document is authentic.

    “On the said 14th December, 2016, when the Deceased purportedly signed the said Transfer, he was extremely ill and literally on his death bed, and therefore could not have known of appreciated the contents of the complex legal document that he was appending his signature to, if indeed the signed transfer/ signature of the Deceased is authentic,” the application reads.

    He adds that Lenaola procured the signature of Keen “as he lay dying with only 11 days to live”, an action no responsible or ethical advocate should have participated in, or allowed to take place, at all.

    “He should have waited to complete the transaction after issuance of a Confirmation of the Grant by the Honourable Court, through the executors or administrators, as the case may be,” he added. Murgor has also said the signature on the will was forged adding that on September 12 this year, the advocates of the applicant, on her behalf, instructed a specialist from Spectral Forensic Services to examine and provide a forensic document examination report in respect of the questioned signatures of the Deceased, including those on the purported Last Will and Testament dated 2nd December, 2015, in comparison with known signatures of the Deceased

    “Spectral Forensic Services rendered the report in which he found, inter alia, that the purported signatures of the Deceased on the copy of the purported Last Will and Testament of the late John Keen dated 2nd December, 2015, marked Al and the documents marked A4, AS, A6 and A7 were all forgeries,” he stated.

    Forensic services

    He further stated: “In view of the findings of Martin Papa, of Spectral Forensic Services in his report dated September 13, it is evident that the late Maina Wachira in collusion with the 1st, 4th, and 5th Respondents were from the outset acting as executors and trustees of the Deceased’s Estate on the basis of a forged Will and Testament dated 2, 2015.

    Murgor stated that it was well known within the Keen family, that while Justice Lenaola and the deceased were indeed friends, behind the back of the deceased, Lenaola and Rosemary Sanau started having an extraordinary, and very close relationship, which, when discovered by Keen, caused him great anger, distress and anguish, making it unlikely that he would trust and appoint Lenaola to be executor and trustee of his vast Estate together with Sanau, who was notoriously unfaithful to him, as executors and trustees.

    The purported transfer was lodged for registration in the Lands Office on January 18,2017, and transferred on the same day, 14 days after the purported Will and Testament dated December, 2 2015 was read, 24 days after the death of the Deceased and 13 days before a Petition for Grant of Probate had been filed, let alone confirmed.

    “Therefore, the Transfer amounted to the criminal offence of intermeddling contrary to Section 45 of the Law of Succession Act, which amounts to misconduct on the part of the said Respondents as advocates of the High Court of Kenya, and in the special case of the 1st respondent (Lenaola), to gross misconduct as a judge of the Supreme Court of Kenya.

    According to Murgor, the position of executor/trustee of an estate, is one of absolute trust, confidence and impartiality which would have been required of Lenaola, in order for him to be entrusted to deal with the Deceased’s vast Estate, and large polygamous family in a fair, equitable and accountable manner, and particularly because there were already existing tensions among Keen’s five children, for a variety of reasons.