Why is Asil Nadir coming back to Britain now?

The meteoric rise and flamboyant business style of Asil Nadir epitomised the Thatcher years – and his downfall in the early 1990s was the hangover at the end of the yuppie party: after the boom, he went bust.

Charged with defrauding shareholders in his Polly Peck group, he pulled a midnight flit from Britain in 1993, since when he is thought to have remained in northern Cyprus, safe from extradition.

Today he returned to London face the charges he avoided 17 years ago. Who is he - and what is he supposed to have done wrong?

WHO IS ASIL NADIR?The 69-year-old today runs something of a media empire in his native Turkish-controlled northern Cyprus, where he lives in the village of his birth with a 26-year-old wife. He has a controlling stake there in the Kibris newspaper and television group and, according to the Times, exercises "significant political influence".

Twenty years ago, however, Nadir was a household name in the UK, a figure who ranked alongside Robert Maxwell as a self-made, hard-nosed, slick-haired, big-suited symbol of the Thatcher decade.

WHAT WAS POLLY PECK? Nadir arrived in London in the 1960s and started in the rag trade. In 1980 he bought a small east London garment business that barely turned a profit. Within a decade, Polly Peck was valued at £1.7bn and had diversified into fruit packing, hotels and electronics. Some investors saw astonishing returns of 1,000 per cent – the highest share price rise ever recorded.

Nadir enjoyed his success to the full, buying an Aegean island, stately homes, racehorses and cars. He hobnobbed with Princess Margaret among others – and donated £500,000 to the Conservative party.

WHAT WENT WRONG? By 1990 Nadir was in 36th place on the Sunday Times Rich List – but was petitioned for bankruptcy by his own stockbrokers just weeks after the list was published. The Serious Fraud Office investigated and allegedly discovered that Nadir had financed his lavish lifestyle by dipping into the till – to the tune of £34m.

Polly Peck crashed spectacularly, owing £1.3bn. Its creditors received 2.9p in the pound, while shareholders were left empty-handed.

WHAT HAPPENED NEXT? Nadir was due to be tried on 66 charges of theft and false accounting. But in May 1993, shortly before the trial began, he skipped his £3.5m bail and boarded a light aircraft to northern Cyprus, via France. He became Britain’s most notorious fugitive. Unfortunately for the UK authorities, there was no extradition treaty under which his return could be arranged.

WHAT DID IT MEAN FOR THE TORIES? Asil Nadir had donated nearly £500,000 to the Conservative party. The downfall of a major Tory donor – and poster boy for Thatcherism - was a huge embarrassment for John Major's government and cost one minister his job. Northern Ireland minister Michael Mates stepped down after he was repeatedly linked to the tarnished tycoon, with whom he was on friendly terms.

First, and most famously, it emerged Mates had given Nadir a watch etched with the phrase "Don't let the buggers get you down" – the "buggers" presumably referring to the SFO and other UK authorities. Later, it was revealed that Mates had borrowed a car from one of the Nadir's advisers and that he had written to the Attorney General to complain about the handling of his friend’s case. Mates resigned in June 1993.

WHY IS NADIR RETURNING NOW?Nadir says he wants to clear his name. His lawyers will argue that the Serious Fraud Office committed an abuse of process which guaranteed he could not have received a fair trial. He is expected to claim that they made bogus allegations against him, including a false claim he had tried to bribe the judge.

Seventeen years is a long time to wait to clear your name - but the Turkish government will be delighted. Turkey has for several years been keen to enter the EU, a move implacably opposed by France, and other EU members. The UK has always supported Turkey’s accession, but since taking office, Prime Minister David Cameron has been particularly fulsome.

Speaking in Ankara last month, Cameron said: "When I think about what Turkey … is doing today in Afghanistan alongside our European allies, it makes me angry that [its] progress towards EU membership can be frustrated in the way it has been."

Whatever prompted Nadir to make his move now, there is no doubt Ankara will be watching what happens closely – and hoping for a resolution to a situation it must have found increasingly embarrassing. ·