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Asil Nadir must wait 13 months for trial after 17 years on run
Paul Cheston, Courts Correspondent3 Sep 2010
Asil Nadir appeared in an Old Bailey dock today after 17 years as a fugitive and was told he must wait 13 months to face trial for an alleged £34 million fraud over the collapse of his Polly Peck empire.
Until then Nadir, 69, will have to wear an electronic tag and be subjected to a midnight to 6am curfew at his rented Mayfair home.
Mr Justice Bean rejected his demand that the trial date be brought forward so he could answer the charges as soon as possible. “The 17-year delay is not the fault of the prosecution,” said the judge. “It is the fault of Mr Nadir.”
Looking relaxed and dapper, the former tycoon arrived at court with his entourage in a fleet of three chauffeur-driven, top-of-the-range cars.
His 26-year-old wife Nur watched from the public gallery. In an unusual move, police escorted Nadir into the building. Further officers patrolled the corridors and there were more in court, where he sat alongside a prison officer for the 60-minute hearing.
Nadir was a darling of the Conservative Party in his Eighties heyday, as a major donor and a personal favourite of Margaret Thatcher. But in May 1993, with his trial pending after Polly Peck's fall, he fled by private plane to his £3 million home in Turkish northern Cyprus, which has no extradition treaty with Britain.
In July this year, his lawyers announced he wanted to return to “clear his name” and secured a judge's agreement in his absence that he would be granted bail on his return.
Today the court heard that he had lodged a £250,000 security and surrendered his passport. The electronic tag — which had been due to be fitted within hours of his return last month — had not been attached for “technical reasons” but this would now go ahead.
The complexity of the action against Nadir was revealed by Philip Shears QC, who said the prosecution's case statement stretched to 482 pages and there were 183 potential witnesses. Each one now has to be traced, and — if still alive — assessed whether they would be in a position to give evidence.
A fresh indictment has to be prepared as the 1993 one, containing 15 charges, will have to be altered to omit the name of another defendant whose case has now been dropped, the court heard.
The judge fixed that the next court hearing would be on 15 October when the progress of the Serious Fraud Office's review and preparation of the case would be evaluated. This hearing will be before the trial judge, who has yet to be nominated.
An abusive of process hearing, in which Nadir's lawyers will argue that all the charges should be thrown out, will take place next March.
If their submissions fail, the trial will start in October next year.
