British financier ordered by UAE high court to repay US$1.7 billion bilked in tax fraud
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates –
The United Arab Emirates’ highest courtroom Tuesday ordered a British hedge fund dealer convicted of orchestrating a US$1.7 billion tax fraud to pay that quantity to Denmark’s tax authority.
Financier Sanjay Shah was convicted in a decrease courtroom of masterminding a scheme that ran from 2012 to 2015. Under it, overseas companies pretended to personal shares in Danish firms and claimed tax refunds for which they weren’t eligible. He was arrested in Dubai final yr.
Shah and his legal professionals declined to touch upon Tuesday’s ruling.
The Court of Cassation additionally ordered Shah and a number of other overseas companies implicated within the scheme to pay 5 per cent curiosity on the US$1.7 billion accrued from when the case was first filed in August 2018.
“This conclusive ruling after a nearly five-year pursuit of justice underscores the serious and uncompromising stance of the UAE authorities against financial misconduct,” mentioned OGH Legal in Dubai, a legislation agency appearing on behalf of Danish authorities, in a press release.
Last September, the Dubai Appeals Court discovered Shah and his accomplices responsible of illegally extracting cash from Danish tax authorities. His legal professionals appealed that verdict to the Court of Cassation, which upheld the sooner ruling Tuesday and ordered Shah to pay the US$1.7 billion.
In a separate ruling, Shah was ordered to be extradited to Denmark after the Dubai courtroom rejected his attraction towards deportation in April. He is predicted to face prosecution in Denmark on the tax fraud allegations. It wasn’t instantly clear when he will probably be extradited.
The 52-year-old financier has maintained his innocence in interviews with journalists however by no means appeared in Denmark to reply accusations. His protection has argued in closed-door hearings that Denmark didn’t comply with the procedures specified by worldwide extradition treaties.
Shah’s arrest got here at a time when strain was rising on Dubai, the area’s monetary hub, over its alleged weaknesses in combating monetary wrong-doing. The UAE has lengthy invited the rich, together with disgraced public figures, to put money into the nation with out questioning the place they made their cash.
Recently, nonetheless, the UAE has arrested a number of suspects needed for main crimes, together with two brothers from South Africa, accused of facilitating huge public corruption and draining state sources with former President Jacob Zuma.
An Emirati official additionally not too long ago grew to become president of Interpol, the worldwide police company.
