Fingers crossed while waiting in line at counters

KUALA LUMPUR: They arrived as early as 6am just to be among the first in line to check if they had unclaimed money at the Accountant-General’s Department office in Menara Maybank here.

Hundreds of hopefuls would assemble at the foyer on the first floor of the building every morning. They would then be given numbers to the Registrar of Unclaimed Money counter by department personnel at 8am.

Among them were auxiliary policeman Azman Mansor, 50, who took advantage of his day off to check.

“I had a few savings accounts with amounts between RM10 and RM50 back in the ’90s. I just want to see how much I can get.

“I was here around 7am one day last month but it was already too late as all the numbers were taken,” said Azman, who lives in Gombak.

Only 400 numbers are provided daily at each office – 100 for senior citizens, the disabled and expectant mothers, and 300 for others not in these categories.

Checking on progress: Rungen who was at Menara Maybank claims he has RM8,000 in unclaimed funds.

M. Rungen (pic), 53, who lost his leg in an accident, said he had around RM8,000 of unclaimed money when he checked several months back but claimed that he has yet to receive any refunds.

He drove around 30km from Rawang to Menara Maybank just to check on the progress of his application.

Office runner Muhamad Khairul Zakaria, 30, said he found out about the unclaimed money through messages he received via WhatsApp and wanted to check if there was any left by his late father, who passed away three years ago.

Hospital assistant M. Nagaratna, 42, who also heard about it through WhatsApp, said she just wanted to be sure.

“My friend came here recently and she got only RM5,” she said.

Meanwhile in George Town, a visitor who asked to be known only as Melvin, 68, said his son dropped him off at 5am two weeks ago at Komtar so that he could get a number early.

“I was not the earliest, being 10th in line. But I did find out that I have unclaimed money, so I came back here today to submit the form with the necessary documents,” he said.

An officer said they receive visitors numbering in the hundreds daily from all over the country.He said there was a rumour of a time limit for people to claim their money, which sent many rushing to the department even though there was no such deadline.

The Accountant-General’s Depart­ment has 36 counters nationwide to deal with the checking and refund applications of unclaimed money.