A BBC Panorama investigation has alleged that Deloitte Cyprus helped facilitate the falsification of financial documents used to conceal Russian billionaire Roman Abramovich’s wealth and evade millions of dollars in taxes.

The joint investigation by BBC Panorama and the Bureau of Investigative Journalism found that financial records signed off by Deloitte allegedly understated the assets held by Abramovich’s companies, making luxury properties, private jets, superyachts and billions of dollars in investments disappear from their published accounts.

According to the investigation, assets worth $672 million were removed from the accounts of one of Abramovich’s Cypriot companies, Amiscan Investments, following the use of backdated documents.

The documents reportedly made it appear that the assets had been transferred to a parent company in the British Virgin Islands in 2003, although the arrangement was developed years later.

Deloitte Cyprus reviewed the documents and described them as adequate for removing the assets from Amiscan’s accounts.

When the company’s 2003 accounts were signed off in 2006, only $75,000 in assets remained.

The investigation also uncovered emails suggesting that Deloitte was involved in discussions about altering the financial records of another Abramovich-linked company, Kravin Investments, to reduce its tax liability in Cyprus.

Kravin reportedly held almost $2 billion in 2003 and had earned substantial interest income that should have attracted tax.

However, documents allegedly created by Abramovich’s advisers at MeritServus were backdated to make it appear that Kravin was holding and investing the funds on behalf of its parent company in the British Virgin Islands.

The arrangement reportedly made it appear that Kravin did not own the money and was therefore not liable to pay tax on the interest income.

Barrister Andrew Mitchell KC, an expert in financial services law, described the alleged arrangement as “straightforward” tax evasion, adding that the evidence could warrant prosecution if similar conduct occurred in England.

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The investigation further found that documents were allegedly backdated to make it appear that more than $10 billion held by another company, Electus Investments, belonged to a similarly named entity in the British Virgin Islands.

The move reportedly allowed the Cypriot company’s published accounts to show assets worth only $145,000, despite the much larger fortune associated with it.

Professor Lord Sikka of the University of Sheffield criticised the alleged misrepresentation of transaction dates, describing it as a violation of statutory duties and questioning the integrity of the accounting process.

Abramovich’s lawyers have denied that he evaded tax or concealed his fortune. They said he was not involved in the day-to-day operations of the companies and argued that relying on professional advisers was legitimate.

They also maintained that Panorama had provided no evidence that Abramovich knew about, authorised or directed the falsification of any documents.

Deloitte Cyprus said it could not comment on the specific allegations because the documents were more than 20 years old and were no longer accessible.

The firm added that it operates in compliance with applicable laws.

The findings emerged from a leak containing thousands of documents relating to Abramovich’s finances and a network of offshore companies administered from Cyprus between 1995 and 2022.

Abramovich, who became widely known in Britain after purchasing Chelsea Football Club in 2003, was sanctioned by the UK government following Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022 and was subsequently forced to sell the club.

Meanwhile, £5.4 billion of his assets remain frozen in Jersey, where a criminal investigation has been ongoing for four years, according to the BBC report.

His lawyers have denied the allegations in the Jersey investigation, describing it as politically motivated.

MeritServus, the corporate services firm at the centre of the leaked records, closed following the Cyprus Confidential revelations.

PAH/EB

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