01/09/2012 The Rise and Fall of Asil Nadir

have fled the country. Time for a special report on the

rise and fall of Asil Nadir. He was the astonishingly successful

millionaire businessman whose company was brought crashing down

by an investigation that has taken over 20 years to complete.

Throughout that time, Asil Nadir has protested his innocence. There

was gross misconduct on the part of the prosecutor of the gravest kind

over this whole affair. Once the darling of the Stock Exchange, he

became a fugitive from justice. When he was secretly flown over the

English Channel and out of the country. Once we were halfway

across, he was pointing and asked where France was. I said, over

there. We are no longer in British airspace, you are free. He left

behind a case so contentious it reached into government and spilled

out dramatically on to the floor of the House of Commons. If one cannot

speak in this place not about innocence or guilt, not about trial,

not about some juicy, but what has gone wrong with this system, then,

Madam Speaker,... It is after the trial the honourable gentleman must

give this information. That is the point! Now, it has finally ended in

his conviction. The Serious Fraud Office's long pursuit of Asil Nadir

has been vindicated. When he flew back into Britain in

2010, he said he wanted to finally clear his name. Everybody should be

seen innocent until they are proven guilty. Are you innocent?

Absolutely. Why do you think I am here voluntarily? He launched a

series of legal challenges to stop the trial. He claimed the

prosecution brought by the Serious Fraud Office was fundamentally

flawed. But they all failed and the trial began in January. The 1980s

was the get-rich-quick decade. No- one got richer quicker than Asil

Nadir. Starting in the rag trade in 1980, he made an investment that

would turn him into a modern-day Midas. He paid nearly �300,000 for

a stake in a small textile company called Polly Peck. As it expanded,

he set about devouring more and more companies and by the end of

the decade, Polly Peck had 200 subsidiaries and was valued at �2

billion. It is a British public company, British shareholders,

employing 40,000 direct in four years... The height point came when

he snapped up the fruit and vegetable giant, Del Monty.

Investors loved Polly Peck. Every company report was very good. And

very burgeoning, getting bigger and bigger every here. There was no

reason to have any doubts about it. He mixed in the highest circles and

was the donor to the Conservative Party. By the end of the decade,

Polly Peck was one of the leading FTSE 100 companies. But things

started to fall spectacularly a part for Asil Nadir when the

Serious Fraud Office raided one of his buildings in Mayfair. They were

investigating allegations of insider trading and that triggered

the collapse of Polly Peck. It was a very public way it with

newspapers there. Within the window, they create a cloud o the EU, which

is very damaging. -- with innuendo, they create a cloud over you, which

is very damaging. It can have a devastating effect. The effect was

devastating. The September, 1998, police raid was followed by a

shocking series of events. The next day, the Polly Peck share price

collapsed. The following month, the company went into administration.

Then at the Serious Fraud Office raided the Polly Peck headquarters.

In November, Asil Nadir was arrested in dramatic circumstances

as he arrived back in London on his private jet. There was a massive

arrest procedure with dozens of armed people surrounding the

aircraft... It was a ridiculous affair. And I was arrested, taken

to Holborn police station. It was a catastrophic fall from grace for

Asil Nadir, who was charged with theft and false accounting on a

massive scale. When the company collapsed, shareholders,

individuals and corporate, lost a huge amount of money. Various

people lost their jobs when Polly Peck International collapsed. As

far as the reputation of London as a financial centre is concerned,

it's that sort of thing can occur, it does damage our reputation.

Robert Hillier, a mother with five children, who had used her savings

to buy Polly Peck stock, was caught completely by surprise. It had a

brilliant annual report from accountants, giving no reason to

think that they would be bad in any way. That they would suddenly go

broke. And a few days later, complete collapse.

investigation had been run by the Serious Fraud Office which had been

established a few years earlier to deal with a wave of financial

scandals. It would be seriously tested during its long pursuit of

Asil Nadir. He was accused of stealing �150 million from Polly

Peck's bank accounts in London, often transferring it through the

Channel Islands and then through a complex network of companies which

his family controlled. The prosecution said he used to �25

million of the stolen money to buy thousands of Polly Peck shares to

prop up the share price. And that �20 million went into family trusts

and to his relatives. Then there were the vanity projects. Still the

money helped him by this 17th century estate in Rutland. He

planned to turn it into a hotel and golf course. This stately home and

a farm in Leicestershire, which he bought for himself. After Polly

Peck International collapsed, the administrators went to northern

Cyprus to attempt to recover the cash but found only a black hole.

He used deal that money? Absolutely not. It makes you wonder... A man

worth hundreds of millions of pounds spending dozens of millions

of pounds per year on charity, automotive does he have to steal

money? -- what motives? To steal money from an empire you have

created yourself? Absolutely not. From the very absent, the Serious

Fraud Office investigation and prosecution of Asil Nadir was beset

by controversy -- from the very out set. It included one of the most

controversial episodes in English legal history. The police had began

to investigate allegations of a plot by Asil Nadir to ride the

judge. Alan Jones was the barrister at the time with the unenviable job

of explaining this in open court. My job was to tell the judge there

was an investigation by police into a plot to bribe the judge. The

people involved... And it was my job to tell the judge that was what

the police were investigating. you let tent at any stage to bribe

the trial judge? No, I didn't. And they also knew that I had not.

allegations made by a police informant were eventually dropped.

It was a complication to the case we could have well done without but

you cannot close your eyes to the fact that such allegations were

being made. Asil Nadir claims he was now at breaking point,

convinced he would not receive a fair trial. The pressure was so

unbelievable, the injustice was so unbelievable. I was very ill.

the spring of 1993, he took the fateful decision to flee the

country. He enlisted the help of a few trusted people, including this

man, Peter Diamond, who, in a rare television interview, told me how

Asil Nadir evaded the police surveillance team posted outside

his house. He left the house quite cleverly heaving his manservant

standing by the window wearing his clothes, looking like him. He went

out the back into a waiting vehicle. He had a person with a week and --

he had a bag with a week and were starting their but it turned out

not to be necessary. He was driven from London to Dorset in a state of

AG, nervous anticipation. He was a very heavy smoker. At one stage, he

had two cigarettes in his hand, especially when we saw the police.

The game seemed up, the plan foiled, when they spotted a police

motorcycle and squad car. He was very up tight and that point. He

told me to go faster. I said, no mac, if we go faster, we will be

too obvious. The motorcycle followed us for about half a mile.

Then luckily he peeled off. Eventually, they arrived at this

small airfield in the middle of the countryside. We came right up to

this date, left the car and walked straight to the aeroplane. The

engine was on and the door was open. Within 35 seconds, we were airborne.

He was very concerned that we get away from the English coastline.

That when we got to be point, we with turn right. He was asking,

where it is France? I said it was over there, you are no longer in

British airspace. He was free. Nadir eventually arrived in

northern Cyprus. It was a massive embarrassment. The Serious Fraud

Office have let the man at the centre of one of the biggest-ever

fraud trials slip through its fingers. And they had no prospect

of getting him back. The Turkish controlled part of the island has

no extradition treaty with the UK. With Asil Nadir out of the country,

serious questions about the conduct of the FSO continued. A Tory

government minister was concerned about the taking and copying of

papers belonging to Asil Nadir. He was forced to resign when it was

revealed that, after Astle the deer's arrest, he had sent him a

watch engraved with the words don't let the buckers get you down. --

Asil Nadir's arrest. In an explosive resignation speech, he

lambasted the FSO. I turn to port the house need you as the most

serious aspect of the whole affair, namely that quite improper pressure

has apparently been exercised upon the FSO upon the trial judge, Mr

Justice Tucker. Order, order, order. Order. I am now... Order. I am now

it requiring the Honourable Gentleman to resume his seat.

all coming back. Do you remember? No. This is the moment of absolute

despair. I was in despair. If one cannot come to the house and

tell them what is wrong with the system, if one cannot speak in this

place, not about innocence or guilt, not about trial, not about is the

BBC but what has gone wrong with the system, then, Madam Speaker,...

It is after the trial that the Honourable Gentleman must give this

information. That is the point. can see, just watching this. This

is the first time I have seen us. I would never want to go through this

again. Lorna Harris was disciplined over the copying and distribution

of Asil Nadir's papers which were taken from his office in 1990 and

for failing to brief the then Attorney-General. The judge in Asil

Nadir's case ruled that her conduct did not affect the fairness of the

trial. There was no improper purpose behind this particular

aspects. It led to the resignation of a minister. The involvement of

Michael Mades, it was art matter for him whether he wanted to design

With Asil Nadir gone, the SFO had hit a brick wall. There was

potentially a vital evidence in northern Cyprus but they could not

get it through official channels. Following the invasion by Turkish

troops in 1974, the England had been divided in two. Britain did

not recognise the north. It was there that the Asil Nadir family

had built up its wealth. I travelled to the place that was

refuge to Asil Nadir for 17 years. And there are very few signs of the

mighty empire that Asil Nadir once ran here. The assets were seized

and the jobs have long since gone. Yet, there is almost no one here

who does not know the name of Asil Nadir.

He contributed to our economy immensely. I referred to him as the

commander of or economy. I was so pleased with him. This man was the

former president of Northern Cyprus. He spoke to us shortly before his

death last year. He revealed that he was asked by a member of the

British Government to have them arrested. I was short. I said that

under my constitution he had committed no offence. I said I

could not arrest a man just because you requested. I was short. He was

short. He was short for night rejected him. That she was shocked

when I rejected them. As long as Asil Nadir stayed inside us, he was

safe. Others close to him could not escape British law. -- stayed in

Cyprus. Elizabeth Forsyth had run the company which dealt with his

personal investments. She was convicted of laundering more than

�500,000, stolen by Asil Nadir to pay off his debts. They placed me

for are the murderers were kept. They put me into Myra Hindley's

cell just after she left to go into an open prison. Mrs Forsyth had her

conviction quashed by the Court of Appeal. She hosted by her former

boss for the last 20 years. I was in a position to know if he stole

money. In fact, we looked after his personal shareholding. We looked

after his personal assets. I never found there was anything amiss.

The pilot who helped Asil Nadir fly out of Britain would also face

justice. He was convicted and then cleared on appeal. He is critical

of his former friend. He let a lot of people down very

badly. He is one of these guys who does not keep his promises. He

makes lots of promises and never keeps them.

Speculation about why he had returned to Britain remains. In

January, after 20 years of investigations, arrests, claims and

counter-claims, the trial of Asil Nadir finally got underway. Wearing

an electronic tag and with bodyguards in tow, he arrived at

the Old Bailey. His liberty and the reputation of the Serious Fraud

Office were on the line. A Dad's Army of former directors, financial

experts, police of us has and others would give evidence of

events that happened 20 years earlier, leading to the raid on

Polly Peck. His plush offices in May Fair, he ran things with an

autocratic management style. Under a signal -- a single sedentary

system, he could move money without any other board member having to

countersign. The prosecution said he needed inside help. One of those

they say he turns to is this man, now a minister and the government

of Northern Cyprus. 20 years ago, he worked in the Treasury

Department. He denies allegations he helped Asil Nadir make

fraudulent transfers. He recalled what he could remember. He was a

man he wanted to succeed in a short term of time when others could not.

He had a powerful ego. He had charismatic attributes. It got him

into some trouble. Asil Nadir never disputed that he moved Polly Peck's

money out of accounts in London. His defence to this complex fraud

was very simple. It was all about how business was done in Cyprus

back in those days. Asil Nadir always said that before he took any

money from the company in London, he had always deposited equivalent

amounts of money into company bank accounts here in Northern Cyprus so

there could never have been any theft. The justification for that

was that Polly Peck in northern Cyprus needed large amounts of the

local currency, Turkish lira. His family, and in particularly his

mother, Sofia, had that in spades. Under cross-examination, Asil Nadir

was asked repeatedly if he could provide evidence of these massive

deposits of Turkish leader. He said that it was the custom in northern

Cyprus to keep vast stores of cash insecure rooms and will the houses

and not to keep records of the deposits. Defence witnesses spoke

about ferrying suitcases full of cash to banks. It would have been

brought in by her security guards. Even then, we think it is

inherently improbable that a number of security guards are going down

the street with a number of suitcases containing these are vast

amounts of cash. The jury agreed. There verdict of guilty on ten of

the 13 counts of theft finally delivered some justice for the

victims of the collapse of Polly Peck. That is not how Asil Nadir

sees it. Sir than 2000-80,000 people lost their jobs as a result

of the downfall of Polly Peck. -- 70,000-80,000. Shareholders lost

billions of pounds. How do you feel about that. I was the biggest