Dubai's attorney general will push for the extradition of a British citizen accused of a $1.7 billion fraud in Denmark, after a local court rejected a Danish request this week.
Essam Issa Al Humaidan has appealed against the ruling by Dubai Court of Appeal judges which allowed Sanjay Shah to remain in the emirate.
A fresh hearing will be heard before the Court of Cassation, the highest court in the three-tier system.
Shah, a hedge fund manager who lived in a mansion on Palm Jumeirah, remains in detention, his lawyer told The National this week.
“In accordance with the authority vested in him under the Law of International Judicial Co-operation, the Attorney General of Dubai has appealed the ruling of the Dubai Court of Appeal refusing the extradition request,” a statement from Dubai Government Media Office said.
Shah is wanted by Danish authorities for alleged tax fraud.
Danish tax authorities accused Mr Shah of being a key player in a scheme in which foreign businesses pretended to own shares in Danish companies to claim tax refunds for which they were not eligible
Dubai Police arrested Shah in June following a request by Denmark.
On Monday, judges said UAE prosecutors acting on behalf of the Danish government had not properly submitted court documents that met the threshold for extradition, though they did not release full details.
Following that decision, Shah's lawyers began pushing for his release.
Then, in an unexpected turn of events on Thursday, judges in Dubai presiding over a civil lawsuit filed by the Danish government ruled that Shah must repay $1.25bn to the Danish state.
Dubai's extradition of criminal suspects
AUSTRALIA SQUAD
Aaron Finch, Matt Renshaw, Brendan Doggett, Michael Neser, Usman Khawaja, Shaun Marsh, Mitchell Marsh, Tim Paine (captain), Travis Head, Marnus Labuschagne, Nathan Lyon, Jon Holland, Ashton Agar, Mitchell Starc, Peter Siddle
The smuggler
Eldarir had arrived at JFK in January 2020 with three suitcases, containing goods he valued at $300, when he was directed to a search area.
Officers found 41 gold artefacts among the bags, including amulets from a funerary set which prepared the deceased for the afterlife.
Also found was a cartouche of a Ptolemaic king on a relief that was originally part of a royal building or temple.
The largest single group of items found in Eldarir’s cases were 400 shabtis, or figurines.
Khouli conviction
Khouli smuggled items into the US by making false declarations to customs about the country of origin and value of the items.
According to Immigration and Customs Enforcement, he provided “false provenances which stated that [two] Egyptian antiquities were part of a collection assembled by Khouli's father in Israel in the 1960s” when in fact “Khouli acquired the Egyptian antiquities from other dealers”.
He was sentenced to one year of probation, six months of home confinement and 200 hours of community service in 2012 after admitting buying and smuggling Egyptian antiquities, including coffins, funerary boats and limestone figures.
For sale
A number of other items said to come from the collection of Ezeldeen Taha Eldarir are currently or recently for sale.
Their provenance is described in near identical terms as the British Museum shabti: bought from Salahaddin Sirmali, "authenticated and appraised" by Hossen Rashed, then imported to the US in 1948.
- An Egyptian Mummy mask dating from 700BC-30BC, is on offer for £11,807 ($15,275) online by a seller in Mexico
- A coffin lid dating back to 664BC-332BC was offered for sale by a Colorado-based art dealer, with a starting price of $65,000
- A shabti that was on sale through a Chicago-based coin dealer, dating from 1567BC-1085BC, is up for $1,950
