A British national has been arrested by police in Dubai over a £1.3billion ($1.7bn) tax fraud case.
Officers say they plan to extradite the suspect, identified as Sanjay Shah, 52, who is wanted in Denmark over financial fraud allegations.
The alleged scam, described as one of the largest fraud cases in Denmark’s history, is said to have run for three years from 2012.
Shah was detained after Denmark signed an agreement in March to allow for extradition to and from the United Arab Emirates.
The hedge-fund trader, who has spent the past few years living in Dubai, has maintained his innocence.
He is said to be the ‘mastermind’ behind a scam involving foreign businesses pretending to own shares in Danish companies – before claiming tax refunds for which they were not eligible.
‘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,’ Dubai police Brigadier General, Jamal Al Jallaf, said in a statement.
Shah has been sought by prosecutors in Denmark since 2015 after the Danish treasury was cheated out of a ‘staggering amount’ of money, Justice Minister Mattias Tesfaye said.
Main suspect in Danish dividend tax fraud case, Sanjay Shah, has been arrested in DubaiResult of solid Danish diplomatic & judicial efforts Thanks to the UAE for close collaboration. We will push for an extradition as soon as possible— Jeppe Kofod (@JeppeKofod) June 3, 2022
‘It should not be possible for suspected perpetrators to hide in the Middle East and thus avoid being held accountable in a Danish courtroom,’ he added.
‘Now I am awaiting the legal process in the United Arab Emirates, and crossing my fingers that it will end up that we can get Sanjay Shah on a plane to Denmark, so he can be prosecuted in this country.’
It is not immediately clear whether Shah has a local lawyer and a court date for an extradition hearing has not yet been set.
But Danish Foreign Minister Jeppe Kofod tweeted: ‘We will push for an extradition as soon as possible.’
Shah ran a centre for autistic children in Dubai which was closed down in 2020 in the wake of Denmark’s bid to extradite him.
He also ran the British-based charity Autism Rocks, which put on shows by major performers to raise money.
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