Unclaimed cash, shares and dividends handed over to state agencies have crossed the Sh75 billion mark, reflecting the difficulty of reuniting dormant wealth as investors, including tycoons, have shown disinterest in recovering the assets.
The Unclaimed Financial Assets Authority (Ufaa) said idle assets stood at Sh75.5 billion in November, up from Sh62 billion in June, representing a growth of 21.7 per cent.
Many Kenyans, authorities say, remain uninterested in legally seeking funds for themselves or their families.
Billionaire businessmen, powerful former government officials and prominent politicians are on a long list of individuals with shares worth Sh39.4 billion who have surrendered to the Treasury, up from Sh30 billion in 2021 and Sh16.42 billion in 2017.
The authority reported that it has received Sh36.09 billion in local and foreign currencies, up from Sh23.2 billion in 2021.
Safe deposit boxes believed to contain jewelry, title deeds, stock certificates and Treasury bills rose to 3,737 units from 1,953 in June. More than 9.87 million unit trusts of undisclosed value are also part of the non-performing assets.
The money is generally held by insurance companies, banks, pension schemes, law firms, mobile money wallet pension schemes, law firms, mobile money wallets and savings and credit cooperatives (saccos) and others.
So far, the authorities have combined less than 10 percent of the shares and billions in cash with the beneficiaries, which represents 1.9 percent of the unclaimed assets.
Unclaimed assets include money in bank accounts that have been inactive for more than five years, unpaid banker’s checks and contents of safe deposit boxes that have not been claimed for more than two years.
Reporting and handing over unclaimed financial assets by all owners is mandatory and must be done on or before November 1 each year. Owners are encouraged to file nil returns if any.
The law allows Ufaa to charge entities that fail to surrender unclaimed assets with a fine of 25 percent of the seized assets.
In addition, the authority carries a penalty of between Sh7,000 and Sh50,000 for every day that assets remain before being submitted.
The law requires the holding company to find the rightful owner of an asset before declaring it unclaimed and passing it on to Ufaa.
Kenyans remain disinterested in pursuing funds that are rightfully theirs despite the soft economy, but in some cases inheritance fights have derailed efforts to reunite these assets with their heirs.
Since July, Sh4.3 billion in cash, 170.3 million shares and 79 safe deposit boxes have been transferred to UFAA unclaimed assets.
Some unclaimed assets are attributed to the failure of the deceased to keep their wealth secret and the absence of Wills.
A before Everyday Business A review of the public database of the authorities found a long list of important Kenyan funds that have helped swell the funds.
The list includes former Vice President Kalonzo Musyoka whose fortune was taken from Standard Chartered Bank, KCB and Bank Koperasi.
Ufaa also has idle assets linked to Bungoma Senator Moses Wetang’ula (now National Assembly Speaker) of NCBA, Housing Finance, East Africa Cables, East Africa Breweries, and unknown assets in Airtel Networks.
Also on the list is the late Cabinet minister Simeon Nyachae, whose shares in KCB, Safaricom and Cooperative Bank were passed on to Ufaa.
The former minister controls a vast business empire with interests in manufacturing, transport, banking and large-scale agriculture.
Long-time intelligence chief James Kanyotu, politician JM Kariuki and former Cabinet minister Mbiyu Koinange – since his death – are among the key individuals whose dividends and shares were held in the agency after a frozen family dispute over property sharing.
The families of former presidents Daniel arap Moi and Mwai Kibaki have also failed to claim some dormant assets belonging to the late matriarchs – Lena Moi and Lucy Kibaki.
Ufaa owns BAT shares of an undisclosed value belonging to JM Kariuki as well as assets owned by the late Mbiyu Koinange, a powerful Cabinet minister in Jomo Kenyatta’s government.
Sameer Africa , Standard Chartered Bank and Absa handed over dividends and shares owned by the late Kanyotu, who served as founding president Jomo Kenyatta and later Mr Moi as intelligence chief for 27 years.
The inheritance battle has denied the rightful heirs or letters of administration necessary to obtain authority over the assets.
It is not clear whether companies that have divested assets belonging to prominent families are trying to comply with the law.
