“Under the law, there is no cut-off point for the collection of the monies,” Deputy Finance Minister Amiruddin Hamzah said. “The accountant-general will hold on to them forever” if they are not claimed.

Last Thursday, Amiruddin told the Dewan Rakyat that unclaimed monies amounted to RM10.862 billion at the end of October and that the amount had since been reduced to RM6.932 billion.

He said an online system was being developed so that people could check on their unclaimed monies.

Speaking to FMT, he said the unclaimed amounts belonged to both individuals and companies. There were about 50 million records altogether, he added.

“The monies belonging to individuals could have come from a variety of sources,” he said. “For example, if you have a savings account that has been dormant for seven years, the money in that account will be transferred to the accountant-general.”

As for monies from companies, he said these came from tender deposits and had probably remained unclaimed because the amount belonging to each company was too small for it to bother with.