Tycoon Nadir guilty of stealing millions from business empire

Former fugitive tycoon Asil Nadir may face jail today after being convicted of plundering millions from his Polly Peck business empire.

Yesterday, (August 20) an Old Bailey jury found him guilty of three counts of theft amounting to a total of more than £5.5m.

Nadir was found guilty of stealing £1.3m to secretly buy Polly Peck shares to bolster its Stock Exchange price. He was also found guilty of stealing £1m spent on antiques and £3.25m which went to 19 different destinations.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

He was cleared of a fourth count of stealing £2.5m and using it to pay his income tax bill.

The three women and seven men were sent home but will continue deliberating today on nine further counts after being given a majority direction.

Their verdicts came on the seventh day after the jury retired.

During the seven-month trial, two of the original jurors were discharged because of ill health.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

Nadir, 71, of Mayfair, central London, looked shocked as he stood in the dock for the verdicts.

He had denied all 13 counts representing theft of £34m from Polly Peck International (PPI) between 1987 and 1990.

The court heard that Nadir fled the UK in 1993 for his native northern Cyprus before he could be tried and returned voluntarily in 2010.

He told the court he left because he was “a broken man without hope” and complained about the Serious Fraud Office investigation.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

The prosecution said the charges were specimen counts representing a total theft of £150m from Polly Peck.

Polly Peck was once thought one of the success stories of the Thatcher era and one of the best-performing companies on the Stock Exchange – but it collapsed in 1990 with debts of £550m.

Investigators were said to have found a “black hole” after going to northern Cyprus, where the money had been transferred, the court heard.

Polly Peck International was a conglomerate dealing in fruit, leisure, textiles and electronics. Most of its business was based in Turkey and northern Cyprus.

Related topics: