Russian billionaire Roman Abramovich's advisers backdated records to hide his fortune

Advisers to Russian billionaire Roman Abramovich falsified and backdated company documents to hide his superyachts, mansions and a business fortune of more than $10 billion, and to avoid tax in Cyprus, a BBC Panorama investigation has found.

The investigation, carried out with the Bureau of Investigative Journalism, says accounts signed off by Deloitte's Cyprus arm made $672 million (508 million pounds) of luxury assets vanish from the books of one of Abramovich's companies. It says Deloitte also appears to have advised on a scheme that allowed another of his companies to avoid millions in tax.

Abramovich's lawyers said he denies evading tax or hiding his fortune. They said Panorama had provided no evidence that he knew about, authorized or directed the falsification of any document, that he was "not involved in the day-to-day operation of those companies," and that relying on professional advice was "entirely proper and legitimate."

Deloitte Cyprus said it "acts in compliance with applicable laws." It said it could not comment on the specific allegations because the documents were more than 20 years old and no longer accessible.

Yachts and mansions that disappeared

The findings draw on thousands of leaked documents from MeritServus, a corporate services firm in Limassol that administered Abramovich's network of offshore companies from 1995 to 2022. Deloitte owned MeritServus until 2005, and the two firms continued to work closely with his associates after they separated. The files form part of Cyprus Confidential, an investigation coordinated by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists.

According to the BBC, the first case followed a 2006 Cypriot law that required company accounts to be made public. Draft 2003 accounts prepared by Deloitte for Abramovich's company Amiscan Investments listed $672 million of property, including a mansion in West Sussex, a London apartment, the Château de la Croë estate in the south of France, helicopters, private jets and boats including the $147.5 million superyacht Pelorus.

To keep those assets out of public view, his associates and MeritServus moved them to Amiscan's parent company in the British Virgin Islands and backdated the transfer by three years so it appeared to have happened in 2003, the BBC said. Deloitte reviewed the backdated papers and called them "adequate." When it signed off the 2003 accounts in 2006, only $75,000 of assets remained.

"Pretty scandalous," said Prem Sikka, a professor of accounting at the University of Sheffield and a member of the House of Lords, who described it as a "violation of a statutory duty."

A tax scheme and a $10 billion fortune

The second case involved Kravin Investments, a Cypriot company that held almost $2 billion in cash in 2003 and was earning interest that should have been taxed in Cyprus.

In an August 2005 email, MeritServus told Abramovich's Russian associates that a plan had been devised after a meeting with Deloitte. "If you agree, it will be necessary to change the financial statements and the accounting records accordingly for 2003 and 2004," it said. An associate replied a month later: "I agree."

MeritServus then drew up backdated documents that made it appear Kravin was holding the money for its parent company in the British Virgin Islands, so it would owe no tax in Cyprus. A September 2005 Deloitte email said "certain changes will have to be made to the accounts" as a result.

Andrew Mitchell KC, a barrister specializing in financial services law, called it "straightforward" tax evasion. "If it happened in England and it was in the millions, His Majesty's Revenue and Customs would be thinking about a prosecution," he said.

The third case involved Electus Investments, the Cypriot company that held Abramovich's business fortune of more than $10 billion. MeritServus backdated documents to show that a British Virgin Islands company with the same name had owned the fortune since Nov. 20, 2003, the BBC said. When the Cypriot company's accounts were published, it appeared to hold just $145,000.

Cypriot lawmaker Christos Christofides said that if tax had been evaded, the country would need to see "how we can get our money back."

MeritServus closed after the Cyprus Confidential leak.

Life after Chelsea

Abramovich, who made his fortune in Russian oil in the 1990s, bought Chelsea Football Club in 2003 and funded the most successful period in its history. The UK sanctioned him as an associate of President Vladimir Putin after Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, forcing him to sell the club.

He has been reported to be living in Turkey, which has not applied sanctions against him. In Jersey, 5.4 billion pounds, or about $7.1 billion, of his assets remain frozen during a criminal investigation now in its fourth year. His lawyers said he denies the allegations in that case and that the investigation was "undertaken for political purposes."