He claimed the Inland Revenue colluded with the car maker to trump up tax fraud allegations and destroy his business. An extraordinary claim, but little about Botnar was anything short of remarkable.Before retreating to self-imposed exile in Switzerland in 1991 – the Revenue wanted some £250m in taxes and had arrest warrants issued for him following a massive raid on his Nissan UK importership – he had became one of the best-known businessmen in Britain. In 1966 he arrived here from Germany to handle distribution for the ailing NSU, which was later bought by Volkswagen. Left over from the NSU deal was the Nissan importership and in 1971 Botnar secured the rights to what was then Datsun and built the franchise from a handful of units then, to a giant with 6 per cent of the UK market which, in 1989, accounted for 150,000 cars. From today's perspective, Botnar was a motor sales pioneer; the bulk of Nissan sales were made by his own 220-site AFG dealer group, which included about 160 Nissan sites.