The Government through the National Treasury has taken over Deputy President William Ruto and NASA co-principal Kalonzo Musyoka’s cash in public listed companies after the two politicians failed to claim ownership.
The Unclaimed Financial Assets Authority (UFAA) seized DP Ruto’s idle cash from Safaricom after he failed to collect dividends accruing from his shares in the company.
The financial authority also got Musyoka's idle cash from Standard Chartered Bank, Kenya Commercial Bank (KCB) and the Co-operative Bank.
The authority noted that it had taken over the idle cash but failed to mention the exact amounts picked from the duo.
The law requires companies to hand over to the State different categories of financial assets that remain unclaimed for up to five years.
Under the Constitution, all seized assets are held in a Trust Fund account at the Central Bank of Kenya (CBK).
Ruto and Kalonzo join former Presidents Daniel Moi and Mwai Kibaki, the late Barack Senior Obama and late Interior Cabinet Secretary Joseph Nkaisserry, whose unclaimed assets had been surrendered to the agency.
UFAA Chief Executive Officer Kellen Kariuki on Monday noted that the DP and Mr Musyoka will be notified on how to claim their cash, adding that families of Obama, Kibaki and Nkaisserry had already lodged claims for the assets which were currently being processed.
“We will notify them to make claims since it’s their cash,” she stated.
According to UFAA, assets classified as unclaimed include bank accounts that have been dormant for more than five years, bankers cheques not cashed for two years and contents in safe deposit boxes unclaimed for more than two years.
The total value of unclaimed assets surrendered to the State in cash stood at Sh8.73 Billion in June 2017.
UFAA noted that it had processed and paid out about Sh37.7 Million to 419 claimants out of the 3,039 lodged claims valued at Sh139.6 Million.
