- Asil Nadir
Asil Nadir (born
May 1 ,1941 ) is aTurkish Cypriot , born inCyprus . He came to prominence in the 1980s as atycoon and theCEO of British conglomeratePolly Peck . An organisation with over 24,000 shareholders and interests ranging from produce to electronics, his alleged criminal mismanagement lead to its collapse in 1990. [cite news | first=Martin | last=Baker | coauthors= | title=Indicted Polly Peck Chief Finds No Place Like Home | date=Thursday, May 6, 1993 | publisher= | url =http://www.iht.com/articles/1993/05/06/poll_0.php | work =International Herald Tribune | pages = | accessdate = 2007-06-14 | language = ]He was prosecuted on various counts of theft and fraud, but failed to appear at the trial in 1993 having absconded to the unrecognized
Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus - which has noextradition treaty with theUnited Kingdom - where he resides to this day. He remains wanted on charges of theft of £34 million.He was involved in the downfall of
Northern Ireland Minister Michael Mates . It was found that in 1993 Nadir had paid Mates to ask questions on his behalf in theBritish House of Commons . Mates was forced to resign over this affair. He has also been a major contributor to Conservative Party funds through the previous decade.In a 2003 interview with the
BBC , he vowed to return to the UK in order to attempt to clear his name. However, fearful of the consequences to his health, he refuses to return until the British Government promise not to remand him in prison until his trial.Peter Dimond, the pilot who flew Nadir out of the UK out of
Compton Abbas Airfield on a twin engined private plane, was jailed for two years for committing an act intended to pervert the course of justice, but he was freed by theCourt of Appeal in 1999 when it quashed the conviction after it was discovered that Nadir's bail had lapsed [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/255831.stm] .References
* [http://www.the-ria.com/Wanted%204/nadir.html Police information on Nadir]
* [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/3076604.stm BBC Story from 2003]
* [http://library-2.lse.ac.uk/archives/handlists/CollMisc0793/CollMisc0793.html Presentation of the Evidence Against Nadir]
* [http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/low/dates/stories/june/24/newsid_2519000/2519201.stm Michael Mates Resigns]
* [http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qn4158/is_19980723/ai_n14162473 The facts of the flight out of the UK]
Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.
