Revealed: Emirati officials bribe and exploit British businessman
Diplomatic sources revealed corruption scandals involving Emirati officials with a British businessman recently arrested in Dubai, prompting the Emirati authorities to refuse to extradite him to Denmark.
The sources told Emirates Leaks that British businessman Sanjay Shah had established partnerships and economic relations with some officials from the Al Nahyan family in Abu Dhabi over the years.
The sources pointed out that the partnerships included commissions of large sums of money and that Shah possessed documents confirming the involvement of Emirati officials and used them as a trump card to prevent his extradition to Denmark.
According to Reuters, the UAE courts decided not to extradite Shah, accused of defrauding tax authorities in a $1.7 billion tax fraud case.
Dubai police announced the arrest of Sanjay Shah last May and described him as one of the most wanted by the Danish authorities on suspicion of involvement in the most significant tax fraud and money laundering operation in the history of the Kingdom of Denmark.
Reports stated that the British businessman, Sanjay Shah, specialized in establishing several companies that file profits tax refund applications with incorrect data.
Commander-in-Chief of Dubai Police, Lieutenant-General Abdullah Khalifa Al-Marri, said that the arrest of Shah came after a continuous and careful follow-up of his movements by the work teams in the General Department of Inquiries and Criminal Investigations in Dubai Police, under the supervision and follow-up of the Public Prosecution with the implementation of the international arrest warrant.
But later, during the investigations with Shah, it became clear the extent of the involvement of senior Emirati officials in the corruption deals he concluded, which made the authorities fear that their case would be exposed internationally if he was handed over to the Danish authorities.
Shah ran a centre for autistic children in Dubai, which closed in 2020 amid attempts by Denmark to extradite him. He also ran the British-based charity Autism Rocks, which presented performances to major artists as part of its money laundering activity.
At the time of his arrest, Dubai police said the emirate had received an international arrest warrant from Denmark for Shah.
The Director of the General Department of Criminal Investigation and Investigation in Dubai, Brigadier Jamal Al Jallaf, said at the time that Shah, through the establishment of several companies, submitted requests for refunding the profits taxes on the profits distributed.
He indicated that the accused had laundered the profits resulting from tax fraud by submitting tax refund claims with incorrect data about deals related to COMEX taxes, which means buying shares before distributing their profits and selling them immediately after distributing them.
