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Unclaimed cash, shares and dividends surrendered to a State agency have crossed the Sh75 billion mark, reflecting the difficulty in reuniting the idle wealth as investors, including tycoons, show disinterest in reclaiming the assets.
The Unclaimed Financial Assets Authority (Ufaa) revealed the idle assets stood at Sh75.5 billion in November, up from Sh62 billion in June, reflecting a growth of 21.7 percent.
Many Kenyans, said the authority, remain disinterested in pursuing funds legally belonging to them or their families.
Billionaire businessmen, former powerful government officials and prominent politicians are in the long list of individuals with shares worth Sh39.4 billion that have been surrendered to the Treasury, up from Sh30 billion in 2021 and Sh16.42 in 2017.
The authority reported it had received Sh36.09 billion cash in local and foreign currencies, up from Sh23.2 billion in 2021.
Surrendered safe boxes that are believed to contain jewellery, title deeds, share certificates and Treasury bills rose to 3, 737 units from 1, 953 in June. Over 9.87 million unit trusts whose values were not disclosed are also part of the idle assets.
The money is largely held by insurance companies, banks, pension schemes, legal firms, mobile phone money wallets pension schemes, legal firms, mobile phone money wallets and savings and credit cooperative societies (saccos) among others.
So far, the authority has reunited less than 10 percent of the billions worth of shares and cash with beneficiaries, representing 1.9 percent of the unclaimed assets.
Unclaimed assets include money in bank accounts which have been dormant for more than five years, bankers’ cheques not cashed and contents in safe deposit boxes unclaimed for more than two years.
Reporting and surrender of unclaimed financial assets by all holders is mandatory and is due on or before November 1 every year. Holders are encouraged to file nil returns if applicable.
The law allows Ufaa to charge any entity that fails to surrender unclaimed assets a penalty of 25 percent of the assets held.
In addition, the authority levies a penalty of between Sh7,000 and Sh50,000 for each day that the assets stayed before being submitted.
The law requires the holding company to search for the rightful owners of an asset before declaring it unclaimed and forwarding it to the Ufaa.
Kenyans remain disinterested in pursuing funds legally belonging to them despite the soft economy while in some instances inheritance fights have derailed attempts to unite the assets with the beneficiaries.
Since July, Sh4.3 billion in cash, 170.3 million shares and 79 safe deposit boxes have been transferred to UFAA unclaimed assets.
Some of the unclaimed assets are linked to the failure by the deceased keeping their wealth secret and the absence of Wills.
A previous Business Daily review of the authority’s public database found a long list of prominent Kenyans whose funds have helped swell the fund.
The list included former Vice-President Kalonzo Musyoka whose fortune was picked from Standard Chartered Bank, KCB and Co-operative Bank.
Ufaa also had idle assets linked to then Bungoma Senator Moses Wetang’ula (now National Assembly Speaker) from NCBA, Housing Finance, East Africa Cables, East Africa Breweries, and unknown assets in Airtel Networks.
Also in the list was the late Cabinet minister Simeon Nyachae, whose KCB, Safaricom and Cooperative Bank shares were forwarded to the Ufaa.
The former minister controls a vast business empire with interests in manufacturing, transport, banking and large-scale farming.
Longtime intelligence chief James Kanyotu, politician JM Kariuki and former Cabinet minister Mbiyu Koinange – since deceased — are among prominent individuals whose dividends and shares were held at the agency following family feuds that have frozen the sharing of their properties.
The families of former presidents Daniel arap Moi and Mwai Kibaki had also failed to claim some idle assets linked to their late matriarchs — Lena Moi and Lucy Kibaki.
The Ufaa had BAT shares of undisclosed value belonging to JM Kariuki as well as assets owned by the late Mbiyu Koinange, a one-time powerful Cabinet minister in the Jomo Kenyatta government.
Sameer Africa , Standard Chartered Bank and Absa surrendered dividends and shares belonging to the late Kanyotu, who served founding President Jomo Kenyatta and later Mr Moi as head of intelligence for 27 years.
The inheritance fights have denied beneficiaries a valid Will or letters of administration required to gain authority over the assets.
It is not clear whether the companies that have handed over assets belonging to the prominent families made an effort to comply with the law.
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