In 2003 Ian Duncan Mackenzie of Lympne, near Folkestone, who served six months for the possession of two kilograms of cannabis with intent to supply but was cleared by a jury of money-laundering offences, was the subject of a Civil Recovery investigation by the Assets Recovery Agency.
The ARA was created alongside The Proceeds of Crime Act, 2002 with powers to seize assets where there are reasonable grounds to suspect that there is taxable income, gain or profit from criminal conduct.
In settling the action against him reached in December last year, Mackenzie (who denied any involvement in crime) agreed that assets to the value of £817,000 would pass to the agency. Alongside £559,000 in cash and shares to a value of £18,000, some £240,000 of that sum is accounted for by more than 800 antique angling items ranging from Hardy tournament casting reels through 86 antique fishing rods to a copy of the Rev. William Houghton's colour plate book British Fresh Water Fish,1897. Mackenzie had collected for ten years, buying from auctions, shops and dealers.
The Assets Recovery Agency have asked Moore Allen & Innocent to turn around the sale by the end of the financial year. There are no issues of title and estimates suggest the goods are there to sell.
Contact 01285 646050 for more information.
