The Unclaimed Financial Assets Authority (Ufaa) said the number of safe deposit boxes declared by banks jumped 56 percent from 1,691 in June 2020 and 962 in June 2017.
It is a global trend for the wealthy to store precious jewellery, share certificates, Treasury bills, company certificates and personal documents such as land title deeds, security certificates, and share certificates in banks.
The jump in the number of safe deposit boxes declared comes in a year after the value of unclaimed assets rose to Sh54.8 billion marked by a low rate of reuniting the assets with their beneficiaries.
Wealthy individuals and families have failed to claim 2,648 safe boxes, despite the State lacking a strong room to keep the secret properties.
The Unclaimed Financial Assets Authority (Ufaa) said the number of safe deposit boxes declared by banks jumped 56 percent from 1,691 in June 2020 and 962 in June 2017.
It is a global trend for the wealthy to store precious jewellery, share certificates, Treasury bills, company certificates and personal documents such as land title deeds, security certificates, and share certificates in banks.
The jump in the number of safe deposit boxes declared comes in a year after the value of unclaimed assets rose to Sh54.8 billion marked by a low rate of reuniting the assets with their beneficiaries.
Safe deposit boxes become abandoned if they remain unclaimed for more than two years after the lease or rental period has expired.
Ufaa executives said earlier that the law does not provide how assets other than cash and jewellery found in the safe boxes will be handled.
“Our legal mandate is exclusive to cash or near cash...,” the authority told Parliament.
Safety deposit boxes held by banks have been on the radar of the Central Bank of Kenya(CBK) since March 2019 when detectives impounded Sh2 billion in fake currency stashed in one.
The regulator issued a circular requiring financial institutions to verify the contents of the safe boxes as a way of curbing illegal dealings such as money laundering.
The CBK said in future banks must subject safe boxes to rules governing illicit financing, known as Anti-Money Laundering and Combating the Financing of Terrorism obligations.
Ufaa has blamed the slow pace of reuniting safe deposit boxes, cash, shares and other assets to court cases, paperwork and understaffing at the agency.
“Litigation by Institute of Certified Public Accountants of Kenya caused process delays on closure of holder audits and delayed enforcement,” Ufaa said in a report tabled before Parliament.
Punitive fines have also discouraged holders from declaring and surrendering the assets prompting the National Treasury to propose a one-year relief on the fines in a bid to increase compliance.
Idle assets are under the law supposed to be declared and surrendered to Ufaa on or before November 1 every year. Holders file nil returns if applicable.
Holders risk a fine of between Sh7,000 to Sh50,000 for each day a report on idle assets is withheld or the duty is not performed. Holders also pay a fine of 25 percent of the value of the asset when they fail to surrender it to Ufaa.
The Treasury has proposed relief on all idle assets that should have been declared and surrendered to the State before end of the current financial year.
