A Dubai-based British hedge fund trader accused of orchestrating a $1.7bn (£1.34bn) tax fraud has been extradited to Denmark.

Financier Sanjay Shah was convicted in May in the United Arab Emirates of masterminding a scheme in which foreign businesses pretended to own shares in Danish companies and claimed tax refunds for which they were not eligible.

The alleged fraudulent scheme ran from 2012 to 2015.

Danish taxation minister Jeppe Bruus said: “It goes without saying that we as a society cannot accept that our state treasury is exposed to it.”

He called it “one of the biggest criminal fraud cases in Danish history”.

Foreign minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen added Denmark was “sending an important signal that you cannot achieve impunity by staying abroad”.

Shah’s British lawyer, Chris Waters, told Danish broadcaster TV2 that his client denies any wrongdoing and “continues to doubt that he can receive a fair trial in Denmark”.

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His Danish lawyer, Kare Pihlmann, told TV2 they needed to read the case file of more than 300,000 pages before deciding on their line of defence.

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On Wednesday, Danish police officers travelled to Dubai to pick up Shah, officials said.

Once on Danish soil, he will formally be arrested and Denmark’s prosecution authority will request he is remanded in custody.

A trial in Copenhagen has been set for 8 January.

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