Anti-corruption detectives raided former Transport Cabinet Secretary Michael Kamau's Nairobi home, but did not find him.
There were reports that the officers wanted to arrest him so he could face fresh charges.
Ten officers from the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC) went to Kamau’s house at 5am and left five hours later after they were informed the former CS was not home.
Sources said EACC detectives and officials from the Directorate of Public Prosecutions met last week on Thursday and agreed to arrest suspects whose cases had been stopped over a technicality on the composition of the anti-corruption commission.
Yesterday, Director of Public Prosecutions Noordin Haji confirmed that his office had given consent for Kamau's arrest.
Kamau's two co-accused, who are engineers, were arrested yesterday and will take plea today at an anti-corruption court, officials said.
The officers stormed the residence in Nairobi's Windy Ridge Estate, along Pepo Lane, and left at 10am.
They said they wanted Kamau for questioning. Some of the officials, accompanied by armed police officers, jumped over Kamau’s gate into the compound.
A relative to Mr Kamau said the 10 detectives arrived in two vehicles. "They knocked the gate seeking to see the former CS," the relative said.
Mr Kamau’s lawyer, Nelson Havi, said the detectives said they were acting on 'orders from above'.
The officers left the residence without carrying anything. They left moments after journalists arrived.
The family protested the raid, saying the detectives did not have a search warrant. They said there was an order stopping harassment of the former CS.
"My colleague who was there during the incident asked them for a search warrant, but they did not have it,” said Havi.
“He also showed them an order by Court of Appeal barring EACC from investigating my client."
Mr Kamau was, in 2015, charged with two counts of abuse of office and willful failure to comply with applicable procedures and guidelines relating to management of public funds.
He was accused of failing to comply with rules by ignoring the design of Kamukuywa-Kaptama-Kapsokwony-Sirisia Road that had been done by Engiconsult Limited at a cost of Sh33,303,600 and entering into a memorandum under which the resident engineer redesigned the same road without due process.
