BRITISH HEDGE FUND TYCOON HIT WITH £1.5BN FRAUD CHARGE
A BRITISH hedge fund tycoon has been charged with fraud by Danish authorities relating to one of the biggest financial heists ever seen.
Sanjay Shah, who had his £15m Hyde Park mansion seized by the Danes last year, is accused of defrauding Denmark to the tune of £1.5bn after his firm Solo Capital drew up an elaborate financial wheeze. Known as cum-ex trading, multi-millionaire Shah allegedly duped the Danish authorities using fake documents to claim tax relief in the country. In Denmark companies pay tax on share dividends but foreign investors can have the tax refunded.
The Danish tax authority says it was deceived into paying multiple refunds on dividends to British firms between 2012 and 2015.
At least £800m ended up in Solo Capital, Shah’s fund, which closed in 2016. The 50-year-old married father of three who lives in Dubai is one of two charged. The Danish state prosecutor said: ‘This is a case of extremely serious and extraordinarily extensive crime committed against the Danish state.’
Prosecutors believe the two Britons submitted more than 3,000 separate applications to claim billions in tax refunds over the period.
They have charged both with fraud of an aggravated nature, crimes that carry an eight-year sentence, but said they would seek 12 years. Shah maintains he took advantage of loopholes, but did nothing illegal. Last year he told news agency Bloomberg that two years ago Danish authorities wanted him to ‘admit all allegations, pay all of the money you received and tell us how the trading was done’.
He said in return they offered ‘a four day trial in Denmark rather than four months and a really nice cell for your fouryear sentence’ before adding: ‘I obviously rejected that.’