Polly Peck Tycoon Nadir Ordered To Pay £5m

Disgraced tycoon Asil Nadir has been ordered to pay £5m compensation to Polly Peck International administrators or face a further six years in prison.

In August, Nadir was jailed for 10 years for stealing £28.6m pounds from his business empire and its shareholders.

Polly Peck, which was one of the most successful companies of its time, collapsed owing £550m in 1990.

Nadir, whose firm included the Del Monte fruit label, then went on the run for 17 years before returning to Britain in 2010 confident he would be cleared.

He later claimed to be penniless after prosecutors demanded £60m should be paid in compensation and interest to the administrators.

Mr Justice Holroyde, sitting at the Old Bailey, rejected Nadir's claims of poverty and said he believed Nadir had money stashed away.

Nadir, 71, fled from the UK to his native Northern Cyprus in 1993.

He claimed to have lived on the generosity of his mother and a girlfriend while in exile and before he was discharged as a bankrupt.

The judge said: "It is not true that Mr Nadir received no significant income or owned no significant assets since 1993."

Nadir has been given two years to pay the compensation.

The judge also ruled that Turkish airline boss Hamit Cankut Bagana could apply for the return of the £250,000 security he paid to allow Nadir bail.

Nadir is serving half the sentence handed down in August in prison and will then be released on licence.