Dubai Approves Extradition Of Financier Accused Of Tax Fraud

The Dubai court had approved the extradition of a British financier to Denmark. The financier was accused of embezzling a tax scheme of $1.7 billion. The accused goes by the name Sanjay Shah, a hedge fund trader who ran a tax fraud from 2012 to 2015. Shah made false accounts to show that foreign businesses owned shares in Danish companies through which tax refunds were filed.

The Dubai government’s media wing found that Shah was involved in tax fraud and money laundering. The Danish officials had appealed for the extradition of Shah and as part of this, he was arrested in Dubai earlier this year.

 A court in Dubai on Thursday approved the extradition to Denmark of a British financier

The initial extradition plea was rejected and in a separate hearing, the accused was asked to pay $1.25 billion to Denmark’s Tax authority as part of the court ruling of a civil case against Shah.

Ali Al Zarooni, attorney of Shah, said that Shah was disappointed with the new ruling on his extradition and that they are looking to file an appeal in the highest court of the United Arab Emirates in Dubai. 

The Denmark government welcomed the ruling of the Dubai court and Lars Lokke Rasmussen, the Danish Foreign Minister said that the diplomatic engagement from both countries was crucial in reaching this decision. He also expressed his gratitude towards the Emirati authorities for their constructive cooperation in the matter.

Rasmussen also expressed hope that Shah would be finally brought to justice in the tax fraud case which lasted for almost a decade. 

Shah had been living a high life in Dubai and he had also set up a center for autistic children in Dubai. This center had to shut down in 2020 once the Denmark government asked Dubai for his extradition.

A British-based charity endeavor called Autism Rocks was also started by him which intended at raising funds by organizing concerts and cultural performances. He stayed on the palm-shaped Island in Dubai which is known for its posh lifestyle and this created a huge wave of discontent in Denmark.

As part of this, the extradition agreement was signed with Dubai, and Shah was arrested in June this year. Interestingly, Shah is one among the many suspects who have been booked for tax manipulations. 

In the past few months, Dubai officials had arrested several individuals who were on the wanted list for some serious crimes across the world. The Gupta brothers, consisting of Atul and Rajesh Gupta were also arrested back in June year on the charges of corruption and plundering the state resources of South Africa using the support of the former President of South Africa, Jacob Zuma.

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An Interpol red notice was issued against the brothers and an extradition treaty was signed between South Africa and UAE which many believed was an attempt to bring in the Gupta Brothers to justice.

Major General Ahmed Nasser Al-Raisi, an Emirati, was elected as the President of Interpol last year and this also points towards the numerous extradition treaties being signed by UAE and other countries. 

On the other hand, UAE has started stringent measures to combat money laundering and terrorism financing by implementing Financial Action Taskforce (FATF) standards in the financial sector of the nation.

This will ensure that funds coming into the country shall go through a legitimate screening process to avoid any cases of illegal money laundering and financial manipulations. The UAE had been added to the FATF gray list so that the nation can look at the various strategic points to better itself in countering the problem of money laundering.

The Ministry of Economy has given clear and strict instructions on how different investment branches in the UAE can assist the government in this endeavor.