Asil Nadir, the Turkish Cypriot entrepreneur who spent 17 years evading justice after the collapse of his business empire Polly Peck, has passed away at the age of 83.
Born on May 1, 1941, in Lefka, Northern Cyprus, Nadir’s journey from humble beginnings in the London rag trade to becoming one of the UK's most high-profile businessmen in the 1980s is nothing short of remarkable. By 1980, he took control of Polly Peck, a small fashion house listed on the stock market, and transformed it into a booming conglomerate.
Polly Peck’s expansion under Nadir’s leadership spanned multiple industries including fruit packaging, electronics, hotel developments, and even mineral water bottling. By 1989, Nadir had acquired Del Monte's canned fruit business for $875 million, solidifying Polly Peck’s place in the prestigious FTSE 100 index. At the height of his success, Nadir was ranked as Britain’s 36th richest person.
However, Nadir’s rise to the top came with controversy. In 1990, rumors of share price manipulation and questionable financial practices began to surface. The Serious Fraud Office (SFO) launched an investigation, and by 1990, Polly Peck, once a thriving conglomerate, faced a sudden collapse, revealing £1.3 billion of debts. Nadir was accused of transferring large sums of company cash to Northern Cyprus, where he had amassed significant property holdings.
Facing 66 charges of theft and false accounting, with an estimated £146 million stolen from Polly Peck, Nadir fled the UK in May 1993. Leaving behind a failed business empire, he took refuge in Northern Cyprus, where no extradition agreement existed with Britain.
For 17 years, Nadir remained a fugitive. In 2010, he returned to the UK and was arrested at Luton airport. Proclaiming his innocence, he was placed on bail and fitted with an electronic ankle tag. After a trial in 2012, Nadir was convicted on 10 charges of theft and sentenced to 10 years in prison. However, in 2016, following the repayment of £2 million owed to the Legal Aid Agency, he successfully petitioned to serve his sentence in Turkey, where he was released after just one night in jail.
Asil Nadir's early years in Cyprus shaped his character. His father, Irfan, moved the family to London in 1959, where they became part of the Turkish Cypriot community in the East End. Nadir worked alongside his father in the rag trade, eventually branching out on his own with a business called Wearwell. By the early 1970s, he had become a rising star in the industry, and by 1980, he was ready to take control of Polly Peck.
Nadir’s growth of Polly Peck captured the imagination of the stock market, with Polly Peck becoming a symbol of Thatcher-era economic expansion. Yet, the company’s unsustainable growth and subsequent financial struggles led to its spectacular downfall.
Throughout the years of his exile, Nadir rebuilt his wealth in Cyprus, focusing on hotels, real estate, and media ventures. He maintained a lavish lifestyle and continued to use his wealth to influence politics and business in Cyprus, even securing contracts such as running the Lefkonico military airport, despite doubts about his businesses' capacity to manage such an operation.
Nadir's personal life was also marked by drama. He was married twice—first to Aysegul Tecimer, the mother of his two sons, and then to his second wife, Nur, who was 43 years his junior. Despite the turmoil in his personal life and business affairs, Nadir’s life remained a testament to his ambition and determination.
He is survived by his wife, Nur, and four children, as well as two more children from other relationships.
Asil Nadir died on February 9, 2025, leaving behind a complex legacy marked by his extraordinary rise and dramatic fall in the world of business.
Polly Peck International, once one of the most admired British conglomerates of the 1980s, represents both a symbol of corporate success and a cautionary tale of unchecked ambition and corporate fraud. Headed by the ambitious Turkish Cypriot entrepreneur Asil Nadir, the company’s meteoric rise was followed by a catastrophic collapse that shocked the business world.
Polly Peck’s story begins in the 1980s, a period of economic optimism and significant corporate growth in the UK. Asil Nadir, who was born in Cyprus in 1941, moved to the UK with his family as a child. He began his business career in the London rag trade, before venturing into the fashion industry with his acquisition of Polly Peck in 1980. At the time, Polly Peck was a small, stock market-listed fashion house, but Nadir had bigger plans.
By 1983, Polly Peck began expanding rapidly, acquiring a diverse range of companies and diversifying into new industries. Nadir’s approach was aggressive; he used Polly Peck’s growing market value to acquire businesses in sectors such as fruit packaging, electrical goods, mineral water bottling, and even hotel development. Under Nadir’s leadership, Polly Peck grew to encompass more than 200 companies and became one of the most notable conglomerates in Britain. The company’s portfolio included the Russell Hobbs brand of household appliances, and Nadir’s ambitions grew even further when he acquired the Del Monte fruit business in 1989 for $875 million.
By the early 1990s, Polly Peck had secured its place in the FTSE 100, making it one of the UK’s most prominent companies. Nadir’s personal wealth also soared, with the businessman ranking as one of the richest individuals in the country. The company had a glamorous image, with Nadir cultivating a reputation as a charismatic, larger-than-life figure in business circles. He hosted lavish parties, was a regular donor to the Conservative Party, and made numerous connections with high-profile figures.
However, Polly Peck’s rapid rise was ultimately unsustainable. In 1989, as the company’s expansion continued, rumors began circulating about possible share price manipulation, dubious accounting practices, and black holes in Polly Peck’s financial records. These concerns reached a boiling point in 1990 when Polly Peck’s shares were suspended from trading, and the company faced an investigation by the Serious Fraud Office (SFO).
It was soon revealed that Polly Peck had accumulated a staggering £1.3 billion in debts. Investigators found that large sums of money had been transferred to Northern Cyprus, where Nadir had a personal property portfolio. The allegations were grave: Nadir was accused of misappropriating company funds, falsifying accounts, and embezzling vast amounts of money from Polly Peck.
In 1993, Nadir fled the UK, taking a private plane to Northern Cyprus, which had no extradition arrangements with Britain. For the next 17 years, he lived as a fugitive, enjoying a lavish lifestyle in exile while the authorities pursued him. During this time, Polly Peck’s creditors were left to pick up the pieces, with the company’s assets liquidated and its employees left in the lurch.
In 2010, Nadir made a surprising return to the UK, where he was immediately arrested. He was charged with 66 counts of theft and false accounting, with the total amount embezzled from Polly Peck estimated at £146 million. Despite proclaiming his innocence, Nadir was convicted in 2012 after an eight-month trial. He was sentenced to ten years in prison, though he served only a brief period before being released to serve his sentence in Turkey.
The fall of Polly Peck and Nadir’s subsequent conviction remains one of the most infamous corporate scandals in British history. Nadir, once a symbol of entrepreneurial success, was ultimately undone by his own financial misdeeds. Polly Peck, which had once been a shining example of corporate ambition, became a cautionary tale about the dangers of excessive risk-taking, fraudulent accounting, and the failure to rein in a tycoon’s unchecked power.
The Polly Peck scandal served as a wake-up call to both the business world and regulatory bodies, underscoring the importance of corporate governance and transparency. For Asil Nadir, it marked the tragic end of a remarkable rise and fall, leaving behind a legacy of both ambition and deceit. Despite his eventual return to the UK and brief legal battles, the case remains a somber reminder of the perils of corporate excess and financial mismanagement.
