Sanjay Shah maintains his innocence in appeal case over billion-crown fraud against Denmark
The Eastern High Court is now hearing the appeal case against British Sanjay Shah, convicted of fraud for 9 billion kroner. 23 court hearings have been scheduled for the case.
Appeal case over historic state treasury plunder begins in Eastern High Court
The Eastern High Court has scheduled 23 court hearings for the appeal case against British financier Sanjay Shah, who in December 2024 was sentenced to 12 years in prison for Denmark's largest fraud against the state treasury ever. This is reported by B.T.
Shah was found guilty on 12 December 2024 in Glostrup district court of having organised a systematic plundering campaign against the Danish tax authorities. The state lost a total of 9,025,205,871 kroner through unauthorised refunds of dividend tax — money which a group of companies under Shah's control claimed to have a right to.
The prosecution established that the documents the authorities received as the basis for 3,399 refund applications were based on fiction. Shah's companies did not own the claimed holdings of Danish shares and had not paid Danish dividend tax. In total, 190 American pension companies and 24 Malaysian companies were involved in the scheme.
Shah appealed the verdict immediately, and on Tuesday the Eastern High Court took up the case. A new panel of judges and lay judges must now assess what took place during the period from 2012 to 2015.
Throughout the course of the case, Shah has maintained that he was simply exploiting a loophole in tax legislation. In his defence statement in district court he said:
— It is my conviction that tax legislation in many countries is full of loopholes, and that is why there are thousands of tax lawyers around the world.
The majority of the district court rejected this view and agreed with the prosecutors' claim of outright fraud. Special prosecutor Marie Tullin emphasised during the case that no magic rule can make shares appear out of nothing — a formulation Shah commented on sarcastically in court:
— She used the word magical four times in the first hour, and I began to think that Harry Potter was working for me in my office.
According to the prosecution, Shah ran the company Solo Capital in London, which was surrounded by auditors and former employees of major international banks.
Former tax minister Karsten Lauritzen was present in the gallery when the district court delivered the verdict, which the prosecution described as a milestone. What the Eastern High Court reaches is expected to be delivered in the course of spring.
Source: B.T.