Asil Nadir has been sentenced to 10 years in prison for stealing £29 million (€36.6 million) from his Polly Peck empire.

Before sentencing at the Old Bailey central criminal court in London, the judge, Mr Justice Holroyde, who has overseen the seven-month trial, said it was “utterly inexplicable” why Nadir did not return the cash when the company depended on it when it collapsed in 1990.

In sentencing, the judge told Nadir he had committed theft on a grand scale out of “sheer greed”. “Polly Peck’s success was in many ways your success, but the company’s money was not your money.”

He also stated Nadir’s conduct was responsible for the collapse of Polly Peck International, but he was not the only cause.

A packed courtroom heard that the legal costs run to £3.2 million, excluding the cost of the UK serious fraud office’s investigation. The prosecution said it would be seeking to recover some of the money from Nadir – who received legal aid despite arriving at court each day in a chauffeur- driven Jaguar – but would not be issuing a confiscation order.

Instead Nadir will have to declare his financial situation to the court next month. – (Guardian service)