Ho Chi Minh City will organize a court soon to decide who owns JPY5 million in cash, or US$41,700, left inside an old loudspeaker which was sold to a scrap dealer in January last year.

Huynh Thi Anh Hong, a scrap dealer from the central province of Quang Ngai who boards in Tan Binh District in HCMC, reported to police that she purchased the item in late January 2014.

But she left it untouched in her boarding room until March because she had gone home to celebrate the 2014 lunar New Year (Tet) holiday.

After making the discovery, she handed over the parcel of JPY10,000 banknotes to local police in Tan Binh to publicly inform its owner in late March.

Nearly a year has lapsed but no one has confirmed and verified their ownership of the sum.

If no one proves their ownership of the money after a year, the new owner will be decided in a local court.

By law, a person who discovers property which is later verified as ownerless or is unable to identify its ownership, he/she will own the property. In other cases, if the property is left forgotten or dropped but no one is able to identify its owner, the discoverer is entitled to ownership of half of the sum.

In the case of the scrap dealer, Hong is likely to be given half of the sum, according to lawyer Nguyen Van Hau of the HCMC Bar.