UK's Westminster Magistrates Court yesterday (19 July) ordered the extradition of British property investor and Tory party donor Peter Singh Virdee to Germany over allegedly running a criminal gang that stole €125m through VAT fraud using the EU's Emissions Trading System.

District Judge Michael Snow rejected claims forward by Peter Singh Virdee that he was the victim of abusive prosecution by a dishonest prosecutor as "utterly without merit", Law360 reported.

Virdee denies being the ringleader - nicknamed Batman - of massive emissions trading carousel fraud that took place over 10 years ago.

German prosecutors last year reissued an arrest warrant for Virdee after he was apprehended in 2017 at Heathrow Airport and later released.

They want him to face charges in Germany, where they said several of the suspect's associates have already been sentenced to jail terms ranging from 27 months to eight years.