The Danish Minister of Foreign Affairs Jeppe Kofod praised the United Arab Emirates (UAE) for their collaboration and said his ministry would like to see Sanjay Shah extradited as soon as possible.
Earlier this year, the Danish Ministry of Justice worked along with the UAE to sign a binational extradition treaty, which will enable the Gulf country to hand the British financier Shah over to Danish authorities.
Minister Mattias Tesfaye said he was very happy with the arrest of the suspect.
Shah is accused of acting on behalf of several investors and companies between 2012 and 2015, and is said to have submitted more than 3,000 applications requesting unjustified dividend tax refunds from the Danish treasury.
According to a press release from the Public Prosecutor for Special Economic and International Crime (SØIK), this scheme was described as a “cynical and carefully planned fraud.”
As of 2017 and 2018, when media reported about Europe’s cum-ex scandal and uncovered Shah’s properties in Dubai worth some $56 million, the financier was under investigation by several authorities around the world for his role in various tax frauds.
Shah had allegedly helped investors sell stocks quickly and claim multiple dividend tax refunds. He and his Solo Capital hedge fund had taken advantage of legal loopholes in European countries. The transactions seemed lucrative for those involved except for the treasuries that paid billions of dollars.
Shah’s plan to live his life locked up in the Persian Gulf ended a little more than a year after being charged in Denmark. If convicted, Shah can face a sentence from eight to 12 years in prison.
