A British man wanted in Denmark for a 1.7 billion pound (£1.3 billion) tax evasion plan, one of the country’s largest-ever fraud cases, has been detained in Dubai and will be extradited.
Sanjay Shah, a hedge fund trader, was arrested after Danish officials signed an agreement in March allowing for extradition between the UAE and Denmark.
Shah has maintained his innocence in talks with media while residing on Dubai’s manmade Palm Jumeirah archipelago for the last five years, but he has never appeared in Denmark to address the claims.
According to Danish officials, the scheme ran for three years, commencing in 2012.
It was unclear whether Shah, 52, had a local lawyer in the UAE, but MailOnline contacted his last known representation for comment.
A court date did not appear to be established right away in Dubai, the commercial center of the UAE’s seven-sheikhdom federation.
On Friday, the start of the Emirati weekend, prosecutors did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The hedge fund manager ran a center for autistic youngsters in Dubai, which closed in 2020 while Denmark sought to repatriate him.
He also founded the British charity Autism Rocks, which raised funds by putting on performances with renowned performers.
Dubai police Brigadier General Jamal Al Jallaf stated in a statement that the emirate has obtained an international arrest warrant for Shah from Denmark.
According to Brig Gen Al Jallaf, Shah was accused of a scheme in which foreign entities pretended to possess shares in Danish companies and claimed tax rebates for which they were not allowed.
‘The fraud scheme, known as ”cum-ex” trading, involved submitting thousands of applications to the Danish Treasury on behalf of investors and companies from several countries around the world in order to receive dividend tax refunds,’ Brig Gen Al Jallaf said.
Denmark’s justice and foreign ministries issued a joint statement applauding Dubai’s arrest of Shah, whom they characterized as a target of the country’s prosecutors since 2015.
Shah is one of several suspects in what Danish officials describe as one of the country’s largest fraud cases in its history.
Denmark had already confiscated the trader’s £14.7 million Hyde Park property after accusing him of fraud.
Danish authorities declared in 2020 that they had expropriated the property after news outlets in continental Europe exposed the owner’s massive tax evasion scheme.
At the time, a spokesman for Shah dubbed Denmark’s decision “gesture politics.”
Skat, Denmark’s tax authority, claims it was duped into paying numerous refunds to British agents between 2012 and 2015, with around £800 million winding up in Shah’s then-active hedge fund, Solo Capital.
In documents filed in London’s High Court in 2018, Shah was identified as “the key individual claimed to be responsible for the fraudulent scheme.”
In a 204-page defense, Shah’s lawyers argued that “Solo Capital Partners provided clearing services for customers to participate in lawful and acceptable trading strategies that were performed at all times in compliance with Danish law: doing so was neither dishonest nor unlawful.”
‘This case has caused significant embarrassment to Skat and to the Danish government generally, particularly because dividend arbitrage trading is a widely known and wholly legitimate trading strategy.
‘Other European governments have taken steps to limit such trading activity.
‘Skat is attempting retrospectively to amend Danish fiscal law and to cover up or remedy Skat’s earlier failure to limit such trading activity and thereby attack the defendants, who have done nothing dishonest nor illegitimate.’
Mr Shah’s spokeswoman stated that he will not return to the United Kingdom to testify..