In northern Cyprus and Turkey, Nadir bought first influence, then protection, through money looted from Polly Peck to buy banks and media interests.
Charismatic, charming and stylish, with playboy looks and lifestyle, plus an air of Midas mystery, Nadir had gone from running a family “rag trade” business in the East End of London to a £2bn global business empire, offices and homes in Mayfair filled with millions in art and antiques, a Palladian mansion in Rutland and another country estate.
By 1990 that figure more than doubled and Nadir was ranked among Britain’s 50 richest as Polly Peck became the London stock market’s star performer.
Asil Nadir was the stock market poster boy of the 1980s who conned City bankers and private investors, not to mention the Conservative party, then staged a dramatic escape to spend 17 years as a fugitive before returning to the UK to face trial.
Asil Nadir obituary Businessman whose meteoric rise in the 1980s at the head of the Polly Peck empire ended in scandal and prosecution.
