UAE Court Orders British Financier To Pay Over $1.2B to Denmark for Tax Fraud

A British hedge fund trader convicted in the United Arab Emirates of major tax fraud has been ordered to pay more than $1.2 billion to the tax authorities in Denmark.

Dubai-based British financier Sanjay Shah, 52, was arrested in Dubai last year and was convicted by the Dubai Appeals Court of masterminding a massive tax fraud scheme that operated from 2012 to 2015 under which foreign businesses claimed large refunds from the Danish tax authorities. His lawyers appealed against the verdict to the UAE’s highest court, the Court of Cassation. On Tuesday, the court upheld the conviction and ordered Shah and several foreign businesses implicated in the scheme to pay over $1.2 billion to the Danish tax authorities, plus 5% interest accrued since the case was first filed in 2018.

In a separate case, Shah lost his appeal against deportation from the UAE and is expected to be extradited to Denmark to face prosecution on tax fraud allegations.

In recent years, the UAE, which has long invited investment in the country without questioning investors’ sources, has faced increasing pressure to act to combat financial wrongdoing, and it has arrested several suspects wanted for major crimes.