Safiye Nadir
Jailed Turkish Cypriot businessman Asil Nadir’s elderly mother has died.
Safiye Nadir passed away at her home in Bellapais (Beylerbeyi) last Friday, 17 April, following treatment for a long-term illnesses at the Near East University Hospital. She was understood to have returned home from the hospital only a few days before she passed away.
Mrs Nadir was buried in a Nicosia cemetery the following morning, 18 April.
She was known for her adoration of her son Asil, who was jailed for ten years in 2012 for siphoning funds from his Polly Peck conglomerate in the late 1980s and early 1990s.
Asil Nadir
GRAYLING REFUSAL
Turkish newspapers reported she was among those who contributed to a £5 million guarantee fund in 2013 in order to allow Mr Nadir to serve out the rest of his sentence in Turkey.
The attempt was refused by British Justice Secretary Chris Grayling because it would have meant “a huge reduction” in the 72-year-old’s jail time.
Nadir is Turkish Cyprus’s most notorious convicted fraudster and has been an inmate at Belmarsh Prison in south-east London for the last two years.
Two High Court judges ruled in April 2014 that – given Mr Nadir’s “notorious” crimes – it was right for Mr Grayling to turn down his transfer request because he could benefit from more relaxed Turkish sentencing laws that could mean his immediate release.
Nadir’s legal team had argued he wanted to return to Turkey and see his mother before she died. It argued people convicted of worse crimes, some involving drugs and murder, had all been allowed transfers despite that resulting in considerable sentence reductions.
But Mr Justice Collins dismissed this, saying: “It is a considerable hardship, but he has brought it on himself by escaping from this country and fighting prosecution for a substantial period of time.
“That has resulted in his mother becoming more elderly and more infirm.
“If he had faced the music back in 1993 he would have been released by now.
“This was a notorious case. In all the circumstances I am entirely satisfied there is nothing unlawful in the decision made by the Secretary of State.”