[Xenalyte]

Officers acknowledge that it is neither a criminal offence to throw money away, nor illegal to pick it up. But they appealed for anyone who pocketed any of the cash to hand it in.

If the money was his to give away, and there's nothing illegal about taking it, on what basis are the authorities requesting that the money be returned?

Wait, let me guess. It's the old "He must be crazy or he wouldn't have given all that money away, so we need to get the money back so he can pay his lawyers to sue the people who picked up the cash, thereby taking advantage of his impaired mental state" trick.

[Gingersnap]

If the money was his to give away, and there's nothing illegal about taking it, on what basis are the authorities requesting that the money be returned?

For the same reason the police asked all those Brits to turn in perfectly legal knives a few weeks ago. And they did.