P.M. BRIEFING : Police Looking at Peck Collapse

Police investigators sifted through Polly Peck International’s books today to try to solve the mystery over what caused one of Britain’s biggest corporate collapses.

The Serious Fraud Office, which investigates major corporate crime, said it had searched the London office of the conglomerate that had interests from fruit to electronics.

Control of Polly Peck International PLC was handed to court administrators last week after it missed payments on its $2.1-billion debt.

The fraud office said police and accounting investigators were examining the company’s financial records.

The search expanded a previously launched probe into alleged trading irregularities in the stock of Polly Peck, one of Britain’s hottest shares of the 1980s. The stock, valued at $3.95 billion in July, is now deemed worthless.