diff --git a/cmd/cli/kubectl-kyverno/utils/common/kyverno_policies_types.go b/cmd/cli/kubectl-kyverno/utils/common/kyverno_policies_types.go
index 192b15a915..36d8167490 100644
--- a/cmd/cli/kubectl-kyverno/utils/common/kyverno_policies_types.go
+++ b/cmd/cli/kubectl-kyverno/utils/common/kyverno_policies_types.go
@@ -113,12 +113,16 @@ OuterLoop:
 			}
 		}
 	}
+	var client engineapi.Client
+	if c.Client != nil {
+		client = adapters.Client(c.Client)
+	}
 	rclient := registryclient.NewOrDie()
 	eng := engine.NewEngine(
 		cfg,
 		config.NewDefaultMetricsConfiguration(),
 		jmespath.New(cfg),
-		adapters.Client(c.Client),
+		client,
 		factories.DefaultRegistryClientFactory(adapters.RegistryClient(rclient), nil),
 		imageverifycache.DisabledImageVerifyCache(),
 		store.ContextLoaderFactory(nil),
diff --git a/pkg/engine/handlers/validation/validate_cel.go b/pkg/engine/handlers/validation/validate_cel.go
index d15a9edaa6..bcf7e1f13e 100644
--- a/pkg/engine/handlers/validation/validate_cel.go
+++ b/pkg/engine/handlers/validation/validate_cel.go
@@ -77,7 +77,7 @@ func (h validateCELHandler) Process(
 	auditExpressions := convertAuditAnnotations(auditAnnotations)
 
 	// get the parameter resource if exists
-	if hasParam {
+	if hasParam && h.client != nil {
 		paramKind := rule.Validation.CEL.GetParamKind()
 		paramRef := rule.Validation.CEL.GetParamRef()
 
@@ -122,7 +122,7 @@ func (h validateCELHandler) Process(
 	if gvk.Kind == "Namespace" && gvk.Version == "v1" && gvk.Group == "" {
 		namespaceName = ""
 	}
-	if namespaceName != "" {
+	if namespaceName != "" && h.client != nil {
 		namespace, err = h.client.GetNamespace(ctx, namespaceName, metav1.GetOptions{})
 		if err != nil {
 			return resource, handlers.WithResponses(