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08-12-2023
DUBAI/ COPENHAGEN: The United Arab Emirates (UAE) has extradited British trader Sanjay Shah to Denmark over tax fraud charges worth £1.46bn, his lawyers say.
Shah, who lives in Dubai, is accused of participating in fraudulent share trading schemes.
He was arrested by Dubai police last year following the Danish investigation into Solo Capital, a hedge fund that he founded.
Shah denies the charges and insists that the trades were legal.
Denmark is one of the countries hardest hit by so-called “cum-ex” schemes, although they also flourished in Germany and Belgium. The scam involved rapidly selling shares between investors in order to create confusion over who owned the shares at the time a dividend was paid out.
Tax on the dividends was subsequently reclaimed by multiple parties, although it was only paid once.
Denmark says Shah’s Solo Capital ran fraudulent schemes for companies and investors between 2012 and 2015. Shah is the primary suspect in the Danish case of tax fraud.
The money Danish authorities are seeking to recoup amounts to some 12.7bn crowns (£1.46bn; $1.84bn; €1.7bn) – nearly 0.5% of the country’s entire GDP.
He lost his job as a trader during the 2008 financial crisis. After founding Solo Capital, he led an extravagant lifestyle in Dubai, including living on the exclusive Palm Jumeirah Island. Musicians who played for an autism charity he founded included Elton John and Drake.
He bought two yachts, naming them the Solo and Solo II but since 2020, he has been doggedly pursued by Danish authorities. Much of Shah’s fortune, including a £15m central London property, has been frozen.
Last month, in a separate case, Shah lost a bid in the UK Supreme Court to block Denmark from pursuing him in British courts.
Also in November, British national Guenther Klar, who worked for Shah’s Solo Capital between 2010 and 2012, went on trial in Denmark in the country’s first trial over cum-ex fraud.
Klar, who was extradited from Belgium, is accused of defrauding the government of some 320m Danish crowns (£37m). He denies wrongdoing. (Int’l News Desk)
