I recently saw a yacht for sale that was being held in an Asian country by their Customs. It had been ceased by government officials for unpaid import taxes. The true history of the yacht is that she had been stolen in the Med. 4 years ago and abandoned in the Asian country shortly thereafter. The officials are likely to sell the yacht at auction. The insurance company paid out the original owners and apparently collected from their re-insurers.
The officials and the insurance companies have unresolved ownership issues because the thief removed the yacht’s identification sufficiently that it is impossible to identify with certainty (according to the officials) what make the boat is and its serial numbers and who its proper owner is (frankly everyone knows but the test of proper evidence is stronger than the obvious).
Anyway there may therein be an opportunity to purchase a yacht at a considerable discount. I am intrigued by the potential opportunity to purchase her. The original owner no longer has any interest in the yacht whatsoever. I have written to the original insurer of the yacht properly identifying my interest and asking for their response but they fail to respond. I suspect their file is closed as they have probably collected from their insurer (re-insurance).
This leads to an interesting question for me. If I purchased the yacht from the government at auction and sailed it away (after considerable repairs I might add) might I face a lawsuit claiming ownership from the insurance company that paid out the original claim after I spent considerable sums purchasing the yacht and fixing it up? Is there a worldwide registry somewhere of yachts and ownership? How does one trace a yacht without identification numbers etc. (even one of the motors has gone)! The insurance companies apparently have tried unsuccessfully to have the yacht released by the government in control of her due to unresolved identity issues as I stated earlier. I know very well the original name of the yacht, where it was stollen from and the insurance company but it seems to be a closed case for all of them as they do not respond to inquiries.
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Stollen boat - who owns it??
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