Drug convict's firm liquidated

$54,316 in taxes and penalties were owed to the Inland Revenue Department.

A company run by a convicted Northland drug baron has been liquidated after it failed to pay $54,316 in taxes and penalties to the Inland Revenue Department.

The liquidation order against Mangonui Development and Civil Construction was made by the High Court in Whangarei last week after an application in December last year by the IRD.

The company was owned by by Max John Beckham who is serving 18 years in prison for conspiracy to manufacture and supply methamphetamine and supplying it along with cocaine, cannabis oil and ecstasy.

Following non-payment of a statutory demand served to the company on November 16, 2015, the IRD asked the court for an order to liquidate Beckham's company, saying it was presumed to be insolvent. Associate Judge Roger Bell also made an order for IRD costs of $4245 to be paid from liquidated assets.

Beckham previously co-owned the ITM store in Mangonui, ran a property development company, hand-planted a large olive orchard and once owned a large commercial fishing fleet.

He was initially sentenced by the High Court in August 2011 to 13-and-a-half years in jail with non-parole of seven years but upon Crown application, the Court of Appeal increased it to 18 years with a minimum nine years' non-parole period.

Last year, the Supreme Court dismissed an appeal by Beckham which claimed authorities had breached his rights by intercepting calls to his lawyer.