The court found the British businessman guilty of gross fraud, ruling that he played a “central and controlling role” in a major tax fraud of more than 9bn DKK (£996m) involving dividend tax refunds.
The case started in August 2015 when billions were discovered by Danish tax authorities to have been illegally claimed from the treasury.
Shah, in addition to the jail term, will also be expelled from the country and banned from running a business.
Also, 7.2bn DKK, the figure that the prosecution was able to prove he had gained from the fraud is to be forfeited by him. About 3bn DKK have been seized by the Danish police more so,
Shah, 54, denied committing a criminal offence, claiming he was merely exploiting a loophole in Danish tax rules. But the court dismissed his defence, saying he was not entitled to the amount he claimed.
The court said the length of sentence was intended to reflect the extent and the seriousness of the crime, which it said took place between 2012 and 2015.
The verdict stated that “the 54-year-old’s central and controlling role in the crime, which was carefully planned and systematically organised and further streamlined along the way by developing a software system, meant that the crime escalated dramatically”.
Shah immediately appealed against the verdict. He will remain in custody until the appeal verdict is reached in the high court, as the court believes he is a flight risk.
Until he was extradited in December 2023, after a lengthy extradition process, the British financier had been living in Dubai.
In March, his associate Anthony Mark Patterson, also British, confessed to involvement in a 8.4m DKK dividend tax fraud, for which he was sentenced to eight years in prison. Guenther Klar, another associate, was sentenced to six years in prison in February after being charged with defrauding the treasury of 320m DKK.
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