PETALING JAYA: theSun’s Facebook page has been receiving a deluge of comments since highlighting in a report on Oct 6 that RM11.6 billion of unclaimed money was being kept by the Accountant-General’s Department (AGD), with many expressing dissatisfaction over the hassle involved in reclaiming their money.
The front page report also stated that the amount of unclaimed money has risen by RM4.13 billion since 2019, adding that the funds were still available to be claimed from the Finance Ministry Registrar of Unclaimed Money.
Section 13(1) of the Unclaimed Moneys Act states that payment shall be made to any recipient who can prove and satisfy AGD officers that he has a legal right to the money as claimed.
However, many of those who provided feedback to theSun said the process to reclaim money through the eGumis online portal was cumbersome.
Facebook user Syed Ali Sickandar said: “Make the process simpler. The claimant’s ID card alone should be sufficient, instead of requesting a whole lot of documents, which many claimants are unable to produce for one reason or another.”
Another claimant, Kevin Khoo, said: “The protocol of the eGumis site is extremely inefficient. I submitted my claim a few months ago, but it still hasn’t been approved. The first time, I was informed after waiting a month that there was a technical issue, and I was asked to resubmit. I tried doing so multiple times for almost a week and went through several more rejections before my submission was accepted.
“The system is an all-or-nothing scenario and any mistake means one must delete the submission and start from scratch again with no option to just fix whatever that was causing an error.
“Now, I have to wait another month before knowing if my claim is successful. If this is a private commercial site, it would have gone out of business a long ago,” he said.
A Facebook user identifying as Patr General said: “So much red tape to claim. Continuously rejected without reason given. Blatantly obtuse department.”
An AGD spokesman said the public could also apply to claim their money through its counters nationwide, via registered mail or online.
To submit a claim, applicants need to register and log in to the e-Gumis portal at https://egumis.anm.gov.my/.
Claimants must update their profile after logging in and provide a phone number and home address. To search for unclaimed money on the eGumis dashboard, go to the “Click here to check for unclaimed money” tab, key in MyKad number and activate search.
If the claimant has unclaimed money, the amount will be displayed with details on the source entity and other information. After clicking the tab to proceed, payee details need to be provided and an identification document such MyKad or passport and an active bank account statement is required to complete the application.
Individuals may only check for unclaimed money twice a day, and additional checks will need to be done on another day.
While the application is pending, claimants may log on to check its status. If all documents have been successfully verified, an email notification from eGumis will be sent, stating that the application has been successful and payment will be credited within 30 working days from the date of the notification.
If there are issues with the documents submitted, applicants will be notified and asked to upload the documents again.
