Sanjay Shah appeals acquittal at Eastern High Court in fraud case involving 9 billion kroner
The appeal case against Sanjay Shah concerning dividend tax fraud worth 9 billion kroner has commenced at the Eastern High Court. Shah, a British citizen, is seeking acquittal or sentence reduction.
Appeal case on billion-kroner fraud commenced at Eastern High Court
The appeal case against British citizen Sanjay Shah commenced on Tuesday at the Eastern High Court, according to The Copenhagen Post. Shah was convicted of dividend tax fraud worth more than 9 billion kroner and is now seeking either acquittal or a shorter prison sentence.
The court in Glostrup sentenced Shah to 12 years in prison in December 2024. He immediately appealed the conviction, and the prosecution now wishes the decision to be upheld in its entirety.
The appeal case is scheduled for 23 court hearings and is expected to be concluded on 1 March.
Shah appeared in court wearing a suit jacket and white shirt and sat flanked by two interpreters, who continuously translated the proceedings into English. He has been held on remand since his extradition from Dubai to Denmark in December 2023.
Special prosecutor Marie Tullin informed the court on Tuesday morning that the case comprises more than 350,000 document pages. Among these are 3,399 applications for dividend tax refunds that were used to obtain payments of over 9 billion kroner from the Danish tax authorities.
The criminal case concerns claims made in the period 2012 to 2015. Shah was found guilty of unlawfully claiming large holdings of Danish shares and entitlement to refunds of paid dividend tax.
During the district court proceedings, he argued that he had exploited a loophole in Danish tax law. However, the court found that his companies did not own the Danish shares in question and therefore had not paid the dividend tax that was being sought as refund.
The appeal case is expected to be shorter than the district court proceedings, but will to a large extent address the same evidentiary issues.
At the opening of the appeal case, defence counsel Kåre Pihlmann highlighted a judgment delivered in England as a significant new circumstance since Shah's Danish conviction. In October last year, the Danish tax authority SKAT lost a major damages case in London against Shah and several co-accused.
The case before the High Court concerned claims against 21 individuals and 34 companies. The Danish authorities sought damages for losses which they claimed the accused had caused by illegally requesting dividend tax refunds. Denmark has appealed the London judgment, and this appeal case is expected to be heard in the spring.
Source: The Copenhagen Post