Asil Nadir

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Asil Nadir (born May 1, 1941) is a Turkish Cypriot, born in Cyprus. He came to prominence in the 1980s as a tycoon and the CEO of British conglomerate Polly 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.^[1]

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 no extradition treaty with the United 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 the British 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 the Court of Appeal in 1999 when it quashed the conviction after it was discovered that Nadir's bail had lapsed[1].