Polly Peck fugitive tycoon Asil Nadir returns to UK for fraud case

Fugitive tycoon Asil Nadir is flying back from the Turkish occupied Cyprus to Britain on Thursday in order to face multi-million fraud charges from which he fled after the collapse of his Polly Peck empire 17 years ago.
Accompanied by his London lawyers and close family members, he will prepare to appear before the Old Bailey on September 3 in a deal struck with the Serious Fraud Office.
Nadir headed one of Britain’s biggest conglomerates that included interests in clothing, electronics and fruit packing valued at GBP 1.7 bln which collapsed in 1990, with the blame falling on his alleged mismanagement.
The investigation of the company saw its share price collapse and by 1991 the company was in administration leaving Nadir bankrupt.
He was due to stand trial on 66 charges of theft and false accounting involving GBP 34 mln when, in May 1993, he fled in the middle of the night on a light aircraft to his native northern Cyprus which has no extradition treaty with UK.
His interests there now including the Kibris TV and newspaper group, a casino-hotel and continues to exercise significant influence on the Ankara-backed Turkish Cypriot administration.