Former Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich suspected of tax evasion

Russian businessman and former Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich is suspected of tax evasion with the assistance of the audit firm Deloitte and the corporate services firm MeritServus.

This was reported by the BBC.

According to the investigation materials, based on a leak of thousands of documents, in 2006 the assets of the company Amiscan Investments (including a mansion in West Sussex, an apartment in London, an estate in the south of France, private jets, helicopters and the yacht Pelorus) were transferred to a parent company in the British Virgin Islands; the documents on the transaction were backdated to 2003. Deloitte Cyprus checked the papers and approved the accounts, from which $672 million in assets had disappeared.

The investigation also concerns the companies Kravin Investments (almost $2 billion in Cypriot accounts) and Electus Investments (more than $10 billion of Abramovich's business assets): according to journalists, documents with altered dates were prepared for them in order to avoid paying the Cypriot tax on interest income.

Abramovich, who is believed to be living in Turkey, is the subject of a criminal investigation in Jersey, where his assets worth £5.4 billion ($7.1 billion) have been frozen. His legal team denies the accusations, stating that he was not involved in the operational management of the companies and did not authorize the falsification of documents.

Deloitte Cyprus stated that it acts in accordance with the law and declined to comment on the details because of the age of the documents (more than 20 years) and their unavailability.

Abramovich's period of ownership of Chelsea (2003-2022) was marked by five Premier League titles and two Champions League victories; the club was sold in connection with the sanctions imposed after 2022.