Dubai-based British businessman and founder of Solo Capital Partners LLP, Sanjay Shah is in the news again. He is reported to have amassed nearly $700 million in exile, and boasts a property portfolio stretching from Regent’s Park in his native London to Dubai.
Shah has been accused of dividend tax fraud in Denmark in 2015, which caused the country a loss of 12.7 billion krone ($2 billion), or close to 1 percent of its gross domestic product. Shah fueled his ascent via Cum-Ex trades, which exploited legal loopholes across Europe and allowed traders to repeatedly reap dividend tax refunds on a single stock.
Though the deals proved lucrative for those involved, it was the governments who paid for it in billions. Some German lawmakers have even termed the alleged tax fraud, that took place between 2012 and 2015, as the 'greatest tax heist in history'.
So, here’s a look at the key details of Sanjay Shah's profile history:
Family and initial career:
Born in 1970 in Marylebone in London, Shah attended King's College London for a degree in medicine, but dropped out. Later, he qualified as a chartered accountant.
Prior to setting up his own firm, Shah worked in London as a banker with Morgan Stanley, Credit Suisse and Rabobank for more than 20 years. Later, he founded his own hedge firm employing over 100 financial experts across London and Dubai. The firm closed in 2016 following allegations of tax fraud.
Properties:
Shah has reportedly funnelled $700 million into his account since 2014 and his property portfolio is spread across London, Hong Kong, Tokyo and Dubai. Apart from this, he also commands a 62-foot yacht. The banker-turned-entrepreneur still reaps about 200,000 pounds ($250,000) a year from renting out his properties.
Meanwhile, Danish tax agency Skat has stated that they have frozen as much as 3.5 billion Danish krone of Shah’s assets which also includes a $20-million London mansion.
Fraud allegations:
Shah is accused of alleged fraud of 12.7 billion krone (1.65 billion euros) by the Danish government, which was exposed in the CumEx-Files. He is also allegedly the prime suspect in similar alleged tax fraud cases involving more than 200 million euros and 65,000 euros in Belgium and Norway respectively.
Apart from this, Shah is being probed by Germany and the UK via Eurojust, and by the US Treasury Department since 2016 as the agency suspected that some of the money was funnelled through US pension funds. Till December 2016, Danish police managed to seize about 300 million euros in cooperation with foreign police forces.
As per the last update, Denmark had not brought any criminal charges against Shah.
