Despite admitting he stole $45.5 billion from the British textile company Polly Peck International that he headed – before running away to Northern Cyprus, Turkish-Cypriot business executive Asil Nadir is expected to serve only five years of a 10-year jail sentence imposed by a British court.
Nadir, now 71, was one of Britain’s most notorious fugitives and was originally prosecuted on stealing $237. 2 million before fleeing to Cyprus in 1993. He returned to England last year and was charged with number of counts of unlawfully expropriating money from the firm where he was Chief Executive Officer.
He had fled there while awaiting trial. At his sentencing, the court said he was a “wealthy man who stole out of pure greed” while Nadir showed no remorse. Reports he could be out in five years upset Cypriot Foreign Minister Erato Kozakou-Marcoullis who described the likelihood as “ridiculous.”
Kozakou-Marcoullis said the punishment was too lenient for such a major fraud. The jury took into consideration that “his business genius created a global company, which brought jobs and prosperity to tens of thousands of people around the world as well as his former incorruptible life.”
Kozakou-Marcoullis said in an interview with TV channel RIK that “this criminal was taking advantage of Greek Cypriots’ property for many years, ” and wondered “how could someone describe Nadir’s life as incorruptible?”
(Source: brecorder.com, BBC)
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