Assets belonging to former First Lady Lucy Kibaki are being held by the National Treasury’s Unclaimed Financial Assets Authority (UFAA).
The property belonging to the former First Lady was forwarded to the authority by the Co-operative Bank after her family or beneficiaries failed to claim ownership of the assets.
It’s, however, not clear whether Mrs Kibaki's assets that have been taken over by UFAA are bank deposits or shares at the bank.
The unclaimed assets authority is also said to be holding shares that Lena Moi – who was retired president Daniel Moi’s divorced wife – owned at the East Africa Breweries (EABL) and Centum Investment. Lena’s shares at EABL and Centum were forwarded to UFAA in 2014 and 2015 respectively.
Lena died in 2004 and is survived by seven children, including Baringo Senator Gideon Moi, and Rongai MP Raymond Moi.
Lucy passed on in 2016 and is survived by four children and her husband Mwai Kibaki.
According to the law, the holding companies are required to search for the rightful owners of an asset before declaring it as unclaimed and forwarding it to UFAA.
Most of the unclaimed assets are attributed to failure by the deceased to inform the beneficiaries of the assets or the absence of a will stating the same.
UFAA is reported to be holding over more than Sh8.7 billion in cash and 180 million shares worth an estimated Sh25 billion.
The authority is also holding EABL shares and life insurance of Sh55, 933 belonging to former US President Barack Obama’s father.
According to the authority, once the assets are handed over to the agency, the obligation is on the beneficiaries to make a claim and have them released.
