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Asil Nadir convicted of 10 Polly Peck thefts | |
(40 minutes later) | |
Former tycoon Asil Nadir has been found guilty of a total of 10 charges involving the theft of millions of pounds from his Polly Peck empire. | |
An Old Bailey jury convicted Nadir, 71, of 10 thefts from the former conglomerate totalling £29m and cleared him of three charges. | |
It is thought the judge will pass sentence on Nadir later. | |
Polly Peck International, once a major UK company, collapsed in 1990 after a Serious Fraud Office investigation. | Polly Peck International, once a major UK company, collapsed in 1990 after a Serious Fraud Office investigation. |
Nadir fled the UK in 1993, while awaiting trial, and remained a fugitive in northern Cyprus until 2010 when he suddenly returned. | |
The Turkish-controlled territory is not recognised as a state and has no extradition treaty with the UK. | |
In the witness box at his trial he claimed he did not believe he would get a fair trial in the early 1990s but had decided to return to clear his name. | |
PPI began as a small fashion company but expanded into the food, leisure and electronics industries under Nadir's ownership, growing into a business empire with more than 200 subsidiaries worldwide. | |
In 1989 PPI bought the fresh fruit giant Del Monte for $875m but a year later his empire fell apart after the SFO were called in. | |
Stock exchange darling | |
By 1990 it was on the FTSE 100 index and was one of the stock exchange's best performing companies but the share price collapsed after the SFO raided PPI's offices. | |
BBC home affairs correspondent Dominic Casciani said the outcome of the trial would appear to be a major victory for the SFO. | |
The charges Nadir has been convicted of are: | |
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At the beginning of the trial the prosecutor Philip Shears QC claimed Nadir had stolen up to £150m from PPI for himself and his family and said the 13 charges he faced were sample charges. | |
The trial heard Nadir, a British citizen of Turkish-Cypriot background, was a well-respect businessman in Turkey and a major employer in Turkey and northern Cyprus. | |
The trial heard of a letter Turkish President Turgut Ozal wrote to Margaret Thatcher in September 1990 - two months before she resigned as UK prime minister - asking her to ensure UK authorities acted with "fairness" towards PPI. |