Property worth billions lie unclaimed

Unclaimed Financial Assets Authority (UFAA)CEO Kellen Kariuki during during the launch of unclaimed Financial Assets awareness creation in Nairobi. (PHOTO: DAVID NJAAGA/ STANDARD)

Investments worth billions of shillings remain unclaimed after their owners passed on without disclosing what they owned to family members or writing a will.

National Treasury Cabinet Secretary Henry Rotich recently accused several institutions of withholding assets of deceased investors. The latest survey by the Unclaimed Property Asset Register found that banks and insurance companies are the major holders of idle funds, estimated at Sh200 billion.

The authority claims that unclaimed assets are under-reported by the holding institutions surveyed and non-financial assets such as land are excluded while government agencies end up not reporting unclaimed assets at all.

The Unclaimed Financial Assets Authority (UFAA) CEO Kellen Kariuki recently said that an estimated Sh3.26 billion is lying idle in their office. According to Kariuki, a paltry Sh32 million has been claimed so far, after the authority collected Sh3.3 billion.

Consequently, the authority has rolled out awareness and sensitisation campaigns to ensure beneficiaries turn up. According to the Unclaimed Assets Act, a holder of assets (presumed abandoned) should make efforts to locate the owner and notify him or her about the investments.

The holders of the assets are required to send written notices to the legal owners at their last known addresses informing them of their investments. Such unclaimed investments should be handed over to the authority for custody and safekeeping.

People who hand over assets to the authority in good faith are relieved of any liabilities or claims that may arise later. It is the responsibility of the authority to make efforts to locate owners of assets in its custody and notify them of their value.

Last week, the authority announced plans to start paying at least Sh42 million to over 1,700 claimants who have lodged claims for unclaimed financial assets with it to date. The payments are in line with the latest gazettment of Unclaimed Financial Assets Regulations 2016 in accordance with Section 53 of the UFAA Act 2011.

The authority is also mandated by law to maintain an electronic database of all unclaimed assets submitted to it. The database should be available to the public. The authority has powers to sell abandoned assets within three years to the highest bidder at a public auction.

However, before the sale, there must be a notice published in a mainstream newspaper with national circulation at least three weeks before the fall of the hammer. In cases of securities listed on a stock exchange, they should be sold at prices prevailing at the time of sale on the exchange.

A purchaser at sales by the authority assumes ownership free of all claims and the authority must execute all relevant documents to complete transfer of ownership to the buyer. Moreover, any person claiming ownership of assets handed to the authority may file a claim, which the authority should consider within 90 days and give written notice of its decision.

If the claim is allowed, the authority must hand over the investments or amount received if the investments were already sold. People aggrieved by the decision of the authority or whose claims have not been acted on within 90 days after filing may sue in court.