Most banks will change American dollars and travellers' cheques and most credit cards are accepted in major cities.
As a consequence, even if the SFO had been aware of cheques to the Conservative party in 1993 – and assuming there was sufficient evidence of theft – prosecutors would not have been likely to add a count to the indictment.
According to administrators and Nadir's trustee in bankruptcy, among the funds transferred without the knowledge of others at Polly Peck were cheques written to the Conservative party between 1985 and 1990.
On the evening she lost the £2m she had signed and given individual cheques for £200,000 and £300,000 in return for gambling chips.
"We were all on decent money and £800 wasn't going to make or break us, so one time, we decided to put all the cheques into a hat and the last cheque out, whoever's name was on it, got to keep all of the cheques".
She adds: "Twice this week I've received cheques made out to my maiden name which I'm not able to deposit".
Europe's north agreed to sign bailout cheques, the south swallowed more austerity, and Frankfurt agreed to magic up whatever currency was required to prevent bank runs driving any country out of the club.
A technical default, intensifying the squeeze on Greek banks, might lead to the Greek government paying pensions in IOUs and wages in cheques drawn on Greek banks that lack funds.
The judge said it had been her habit to sign cheques to the casino for such sums, but the cheques signed that evening were dishonoured.
In 2011, USAid administrator Rajiv Shah warned that the aid industry "is full of incentives designed to prolong our efforts rather than reduce them or enable transitions" and said his agency would no longer be satisfied with "writing big cheques to big contractors and calling it development".
This article has been rewritten and corrected to reflect further information from the SFO The Serious Fraud Office has said it is unable to pursue the Conservative party for the return of cheques totalling £365,000 allegedly stolen from Polly Peck by the fraudster Asil Nadir and paid into party coffers more than 22 years ago.
