Asil Nadir

Asilkan Nadir (1 May 1941 – 9 February 2025) was a British Turkish Cypriot businessman. He was the chief executive of Polly Peck, which he took over as a small textile company. During the 1980s, he expanded it into one of the United Kingdom's top 100 FTSE-listed companies, with interests in consumer electronics, fruit distribution, and packaging. In 1990, Polly Peck collapsed following an investigation by the Serious Fraud Office and charges were brought against Asil Nadir on 70 counts of false accounting and theft, which he denied. From 1993 until 2010, Nadir lived in northern Cyprus, having fled there to escape a trial in the UK. He remained a fugitive from British justice until 26 August 2010, when he returned to London to face judicial examination. His trial commenced at the Old Bailey on 3 September 2010, on 13 specimen charges of false accounting and theft totalling £34 million. He was found guilty of 10 counts of theft totalling £29 million and on 23 August 2012 was sentenced to 10 years in prison. In 2016, Nadir was transferred to serve the rest of his sentence in Turkey, but was released one day later.