MPs reject unclaimed assets law

A House team has rejected a bid by the government to allow persons with unclaimed assets to assign another person to get the benefits.

The government wants the law changed to allow claimants of assets that are presumed abandoned to designate another individual of their choice to be paid.

Through the Unclaimed Financial Asset (Amendment) Bill, of 2024, the state proposed that the authority handling the assets can hand over the wealth in their custody when claimants are unavailable.

“Where the authority is satisfied that a person is the owner of all or part of the assets that became unclaimed assets and paid into the fund, the authority may pay out of the fund to the owner or such other person as the owner may designate,” the bill reads.

After its review, the Finance Committee of the National Assembly has recommended that the proposed law change be deleted.

The concern of the team led by Molo MP Kuria Kimani is that if left unchecked, the provision could be prone to abuse and perpetuate fraud.

There were fears in the committee that the provision could also pave the way for easy transfer of proceeds of crimes to individuals.

“Whereas the amendments in the Bill seek to simplify and enhance the process of claiming unclaimed financial assets, the absence of explicit provisions on third party designations creates legal risks for both the authority and claimants.”

“This would be especially in cases of disputed designations due to fraud, undue influence or lack of capacity,” the committee said in its report tabled in the House recently.

The law defines Unclaimed assets to include those that have been presumed abandoned and have become unclaimed assets under the Act.

Those that have been transferred to the Unclaimed Assets Authority and those that have been deemed under any other law to be unclaimed assets and payable to UFAA also apply.

Income, dividends or interest can be considered but not lawful charges accruing to the claimant of such assets.

Lawmakers engaged the Law Society of Kenya, the Unclaimed Financial Asset Authority, the Attorney General and the Institute of Certified Public Accountants on the proposed law.

The stakeholders raised concerns with the proposal, leading to its eventual deletion by the committee.

A vote on the Bill sponsored by Majority Leader Kimani Ichung’wah would be taken in the main plenary sitting of all the members.

As per the committee report, the proposed law is not without intrigues.