Kenya Power starts remitting unclaimed assets arrears

Kenya Power #ticker:KPLC has remitted Sh88 million or six percent of the arrears it holds as unclaimed assets in a race to comply with the law and avoid penalties.

Auditor-General Nancy Gathungu said in an audit report that the utility is, however yet to deposit Sh1.29 billion with the Unclaimed Financial Assets Authority (Ufaa).

The unclaimed assets include deposit refunds, unidentified receipts, unpaid customer electricity deposits, unpaid way-leaves compensation, unclaimed dividends and stale cheques which ought to have been reported to Ufaa.

"The company held in their books unremitted qualifying financial assets amounting to Sh1.292 billion (2019: Sh922 million)," said Ms Gathungu.

"Management has however indicated that various measures have subsequently been taken to comply with the requirements of the Act including remitting Sh88 million of the outstanding balance to the Unclaimed Financial Assets Authority."

Reporting and surrender of unclaimed financial assets by all holders is mandatory and is due on or before November 1 every year. Holders are also encouraged to file nil returns if applicable.

The law allows the Ufaa to charge any entity that fails to surrender unclaimed assets a penalty equivalent to 25 per cent of the assets held.

Besides, the authority levies a penalty of between Sh7,000 and Sh50,000 for each day that the assets stayed before being submitted.

The law requires the holding company to search for the rightful owners of an asset before declaring it unclaimed and forwarding it to the Ufaa.

Ufaa in March revealed the idle assets stood at Sh51.4 billion in December 2020, up from Sh43 billion in June, reflecting a growth of 19 per cent.