Dubai arrests British man over USD 1.7B Denmark tax fraud case

It wasnt immediately clear if Shah, 52, had a local lawyer in the Emirates. Gen. Jamal Al Jallaf said the emirate received an international arrest warrant from Denmark for Shah.

Dubai police said Friday they arrested and planned to extradite a British man wanted in Denmark over a USD 1.7 billion tax fraud case.

Dubai police identified the man as Sanjay Shah and said his arrest came after Denmark signed an agreement in March allowing for extradition between the United Arab Emirates and Denmark.

Shah has maintained his innocence while living in Dubai over the last few years. It wasn't immediately clear if Shah, 52, had a local lawyer in the Emirates. A court date did not appear to have been immediately set in Dubai, the commercial capital of the seven-sheikhdom federation of the UAE.

In a statement, Dubai police Brig. Gen. Jamal Al Jallaf said the emirate received an international arrest warrant from Denmark for Shah. Al Jallaf said Shah was accused of a fraud that saw foreign businesses pretend to own shares in Danish companies and claim tax refunds for which they were not eligible.

"The fraud scheme, known as cum-ex' trading, involved submitting thousands of applications to the Danish Treasury on behalf of investors and companies from several countries around the world in order to receive dividend tax refunds," Al Jallaf said.