A Dubai court has ruled that British hedge fund trader Sanjay Shah will be extradited from the UAE to Denmark for prosecution over an alleged $1.7bn tax fraud.

Shah, a British citizen who lived in Dubai's Palm Jumeirah, is accused of running a scheme from 2012 to 2015 in which foreign businesses pretended to own shares in Danish companies and claimed tax refunds for which they were not eligible. 

In a statement issued by Dubai Media Office on 3 April, attorney general Essam Al Humaidan said the Dubai Court of Cassation had rejected Shah's appeal and upheld the Dubai Court of Appeal's ruling to grant Denmark's request for his extradition.

Dubai Court of Cassation, the top court in the emirate's three-tier system, in October last year referred the extradition case against Shah back to the appeal court to be heard by a new panel of judges.

Shah had previously denied the charges and said he was operating within Danish law.

An international warrant for his arrest was received by Dubai Police on 7 January and he was arrested five months later.

The arrest followed the signing of an extradition agreement between the UAE and Denmark in March last year.