London Evening Standard/London

Asil Nadir was urged to “take care” by his wife yesterday as he was taken down to the cells at the Old Bailey after being convicted of a £28.6mn fraud 19 years after he fled Britain to escape the charges.
The tycoon, 71, was found guilty in a majority verdict of 10 charges of stealing from his own Polly Peck International company. His wife Nur, 28, constantly looked over at her husband, who sat emotionless in the dock as the verdicts were read out.
After the short hearing, she ran over and told him: “Look after yourself and your health. Don’t think too much.”
After almost 43 hours of deliberating over one of the Britain’s most notorious fraud cases, 10 jurors convicted the businessman of 10 charges and cleared him of three. Nadir had denied all 13 counts alleging thefts of £34mn between 1987 and 1990.
At the outset of the eight-month trial, prosecutors had said these were specimen charges — insisting the real scale of his plundering and cost to PPI shareholders was £150mn. He was remanded in custody and will be sentenced today.
Nadir spent 17 years on the run in his native Northern Cyprus after PPI collapsed. He returned in 2010 convinced he could clear his name.
Afterwards, Nur Nadir indicated her husband would appeal.
She said: “A guilty man does not come back to face justice of his own accord. My husband came back voluntarily. He wants justice for himself and for the tens of thousands of shareholders and employees. Polly Peck was his life. This unhappy affair is certainly not over yet.”
It has taken an estimated £30mn to bring Nadir to justice.
Clare Whitaker from the Serious Fraud Office said outside court: “A claim will be made for compensation which we hope will be awarded to the administrators of PPI. It’s not yet clear how many of the assets will be recoverable.”
Nadir was a major donor to the Conservative party and the friend and business idol of then prime minister Margaret Thatcher, becoming Britain’s 36th richest man with a personal fortune of £1.7bn.
But he used his business empire as a personal bank to fund his fast cars, country estates, holiday villas and a private jet. When the SFO moved in, PPI collapsed in 1990 and Nadir was declared bankrupt and vilified, particularly in political circles.
Nadir claimed he was being persecuted and had no hope of receiving a fair trial. He had been granted £3mn bail when in May 1993, on the eve of his trial, he fled by private plane to France and then Northern Cyprus — which has no extradition treaty with Britain.
He lived in luxury in a £3mn villa until deciding to return to the UK in 2010 after his lawyers secured him bail.
On his return Nadir’s lawyers tried to have the charges thrown out by twice claiming that the SFO had acted illegally and then insisting the tycoon was too ill to stand trial but Justice Holdroyde rejected all the attempts.
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Why did Nadir give up his lavish lifestyle in the Mediterranean with his wife Nur and return to Britain? He told the jury that he had risked death by ignoring doctor’s orders to come back to clear his name. Nadir, 71, was once a darling of the Tory party and gave an estimated £500,000 to Margaret Thatcher’s administration, although both their good fortunes came to an abrupt end in the autumn of 1990. Thatcher was ousted from No 10 and Nadir was being chased by police, creditors and irate investors. Even his friend Michael Mates, a minister in John Major’s government, could not help. Mates resigned after it was discovered that he had given Nadir a watch inscribed “Don’t let them get you down” just before he fled before his trial in 1993. Nadir might have hoped another Tory prime minister might bring him luck, but only Mates spoke up for him at the Old Bailey. He said he had given Nadir the birthday present to cheer him up. Mates said: “It had an inscription on it which was meant jocularly but was taken many other ways. It caused a lot of trouble.”