British financier ordered by UAE high court to repay $1.7 billion bilked in tax fraud

By MALAK HARB
Associated Press

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — The United Arab Emirates’ highest court has ordered a British hedge fund trader convicted of orchestrating a $1.7 billion tax fraud to pay that amount to Denmark’s tax authority. Financier Sanjay Shah was convicted in a lower court of masterminding a scheme that ran from 2012 to 2015. Under that scheme, foreign businesses pretended to own shares in Danish companies and illegally claimed tax refunds. Shah was arrested in Dubai last year. He and his lawyers declined to comment on Tuesday’s ruling. The Court of Cassation also ordered Shah and several foreign businesses implicated in the scheme to pay 5% interest on the $1.7 billion accrued since the case was first filed in August 2018.