By Nikolaj Skydsgaard
COPENHAGEN (Reuters) -A Briton charged with defrauding Danish tax authorities, Sanjay Shah, will be extradited to Denmark from the United Arab Emirates, authorities on both sides said on Monday.
Shah is suspected of running a scheme that involved submitting applications to the Danish Treasury on behalf of investors and companies from around the world for dividend tax refunds worth more than 9 billion Danish crowns ($1.32 billion).
He denies any wrongdoing.
Danish Justice Minister Peter Hummelgaard said in a statement that he understood Dubai authorities’ decision was final but must still go via his UAE counterpart.
“We as a society can now send a clear signal to this type of criminal in a suit that no hiding place is safe, no matter where in the world you are,” he added.
The emirate’s state media office confirmed that Attorney General Essam Issa Al Humaidan had rejected Shah’s appeal.
“Sanjay Shah can be extradited to Denmark over fraud and money laundering charges,” it said on Twitter.
Shah’s media and political adviser, Jack Irvine, said in a statement to Reuters that Shah was unlikely to be on the first plane out of Dubai.
“At the risk of repeating myself I will say again, Mr Shah continues to deny that the trades were illegal,” he said. “I am confident that the truth concerning (Danish tax authority) SKAT’s dysfunctionality will eventually emerge.”
Since Shah’s arrest in Dubai in June last year, his case has gone through several court instances.
“We have been providing consular assistance to a British man following his arrest in Dubai in June 2022 and are in contact with the local authorities,” a spokesperson for the British Foreign Office told Reuters.
($1 = 6.8339 Danish crowns)
(Reporting by Nikolaj Skydsgaard in Copenhagen, Mujiva M in London, and Adam Makary and Moaz Abd-Alaziz in Cairo; Editing by Mark Porter, Andrew Cawthorne and Sandra Maler)
