LONDON Fugitive tycoon Asil Nadir told U.K. media he is returning to Britain from his native Northern Cyprus on Thursday to face charges of fraud.
Nadir fled Britain 17 years ago following the spectacular collapse of his Polly Peck food and electronics conglomerate, an explosive scandal that tarnished the reputation of the Conservative Party, to which he was a major a donor.
Speaking from a nearly empty passenger jet in Turkey, where was stopping on his way back to London, Nadir told Sky News television that he was seeking to write the final chapter to the story.
"I wanted to go back and hopefully get a closure to this sad affair," he told the broadcaster. "My innocence is sufficient security for me."
He declined to say whether he would support the Conservative Party in the future.
"Weve got a little injustice to sort out first," he said.
No one picked up the phone at Britains Serious Fraud Office, which reportedly arranged for Nadirs return from Cyprus by guaranteeing that it wouldnt oppose his application for bail.
The son of a wealthy Cypriot, Nadir came to Britain in the 1960s and set up his own clothing business. It grew into Polly Peck, one of Britains most successful companies.
But Polly Peck imploded in 1990, hundreds of millions of pounds dollars in debt and dogged by allegations that Nadir had embezzled huge amounts of money from the company.
Nadir has always denied the charges � but he fled the country four months before he was scheduled to face trial, escaping to France in a light aircraft before making his way back to Northern Cyprus.
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