The claim is therefore an order for custody in absentia. An order could form the basis of a process of extradition.
It was in January that the indictment against the men was filed. Sanjay Shah lives in Dubai and Patterson is reportedly staying in the UK.
The former is charged with fraud for just over nine billion kroner and for attempted fraud for another half a billion kroner.
The accusation against the other is for complicity in fraud for DKK 8.9 billion and for attempted complicity in fraud for an additional half a billion.
Both plead not guilty, it has previously emerged.
The constitutional hearing is expected to last several hours. It really got underway late in the morning.
The hearing will take place behind closed doors, Judge Nanna Blach has decided.
One of the three prosecutors from the Bagmandspolitiet who has appeared justifies the request with regard to the investigation.
Several companies and several people have been charged, and the investigators need to interrogate witnesses, among other things, says special prosecutor Marie Tullin.
– We are in full swing, but it has proven to be somewhat cumbersome to arrange interrogations, she says.
The men’s defenders, lawyer Kåre Pihlmann and lawyer Henrik Stagetorn, say they can see no basis for closed doors.
But the judge concludes that the consideration of the police’s forward-looking investigation justifies closing the door.
Incidentally, the court hearing began with a so-called order being lifted. Thus, the defenders were allowed to inform their clients about the legal step. Until now, they have been banned from doing so.
– General procedural considerations speak in favor of the defenders being given the opportunity to contact their clients, the judge says.
Also, three other attorneys defending other defendants in the case complex are present in the courtroom.
Monday’s constitutional interrogation is not surprising in light of statements from the Bagmandspolitiet’s chief in January.
– Of course, we are not so blue-eyed that we think that someone of their own will appear in Denmark for a trial where they risk many years in prison, public prosecutor Per Fiig has said.
– Therefore, we will of course also work with all the options we have, to ensure that the accused are brought before a judge in Denmark, he said in January.
In the autumn, Sanjay Shah told the daily newspaper Børsen that he is willing to appear in Denmark for a trial.
It was as owner and director of, among others, the company Solo Capital that, according to the indictment, he defrauded the Danish authorities.
As many as 3,239 times he applied “unlawfully and on the wrong basis” for a refund of Danish dividend tax, it is claimed in the indictment. It happened on behalf of 189 US pension companies and 24 Malaysian companies, it said.
The police investigation into an unjustified refund of dividend tax for a total of DKK 12.7 billion began in the late summer of 2015.
So far, a single verdict has been handed down. In September 2019, the German bank North Channel Bank was fined DKK 110 million.
The offense consisted of the bank helping to prevent the fraud. The bank created a system in which fictitious stock and money movements were recorded. The information was then used by customers who, on behalf of 27 US so-called pension plans, led the Danish authorities behind the light.
Source: The Nordic Page