Fugitive Asil Nadir given bail so he can return to face fraud trial

Runaway tycoon Asil Nadir is set to return to Britain to stand trial at the Old Bailey.

A judge today granted a bail application for the fugitive Polly Peck boss even though he is still in northern Cyprus.

His barrister, William Clegg QC, told the court Nadir - who fled the country in 1993 facing multi-million-pound fraud charges - wanted to return and clear his name.

The Serious Fraud Office agreed that Nadir should be bailed but said the decision should have been delayed until after he had reached Britain.

However, Mr Justice Bean granted bail on nine conditions, including the lodging of a £250,000 surety and wearing an electronic tag.

Nadir, 69, turned his Polly Peck empire of companies into one of the great Thatcherite success stories of the Eighties. He was one of the then-prime minister's favourite businessmen and a leading Conservative Party donor.

But his downfall came swiftly after he was charged with theft and false accounting over a £34million fraud.

In 1992 he was committed to stand trial and pleaded not guilty to the charges at the Chichester Rents court in Chancery Lane.

But nobody in court remembered to renew his bail, which duly lapsed.

In May 1993 he fled to Turkish-controlled northern Cyprus, which has no extradition treaty with the UK, and has remained there since. But 17 years later Nadir wants to return. Mr Clegg said: "Mr Nadir has a settled and determined intention to return to this country and stand trial. For whatever reason he wants to come back and clear his name by standing trial."

He has been in "legal limbo as a result of the pure fortune , for him, of escaping through a web of legislation governing the granting and surrendering to bail," Mr Clegg went on. "He is an extremely lucky man to find himself in this position and we must face up to the pragmatic result of that."

The Old Bailey trial is set for September.