- Published
The world's biggest accountancy firm helped in falsifying documents to hide Roman Abramovich's wealth and evade tax, BBC Panorama has found.
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Panorama → publish → tax
Accounts signed off by Deloitte in Cyprus meant assets such as superyachts, mansions and private jets worth $672m (£508m) vanished from Abramovich's company accounts.
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assets → sign → accounts
Deloitte also appears to have advised on a scheme to evade a huge tax bill on the oligarch's wealth through the falsification of documents.
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Deloitte → appear → documents
Barrister Andrew Mitchell KC, an expert in financial services law, said Panorama's evidence showed the scheme was "straightforward" tax evasion and "it couldn't be more blatant".
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it → say → law
Roman Abramovich's lawyers said he denies that he evaded tax or concealed his fortune.
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he → say → fortune
They said Panorama provided no evidence he knew about, authorised or directed the falsification of any document and said it was legitimate to rely on advice from professionals.
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it → say → professionals
Deloitte Cyprus said it "acts in compliance with applicable laws".
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it → say → laws
The findings are being revealed following a joint investigation between BBC Panorama and the Bureau of Investigative Journalism.
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findings → reveal → Journalism
For nearly two decades, Roman Abramovich was the most famous Russian oligarch in the UK, welcomed in London where he bought Chelsea Football Club in 2003 and bankrolled the club's most successful period.
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he → welcome → period
But after Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, he was sanctioned by the UK government as an associate of President Vladimir Putin and forced to sell the club.
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he → sanction → club
Abramovich has been reported to be living in Turkey, a safe haven for him because it did not apply sanctions.
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it → report → sanctions
In the Channel Island of Jersey, £5.4bn of his assets remain frozen and a criminal investigation has been going on for four years.
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investigation → remain → years
The oligarch's lawyers told the BBC he denies the allegations in the Jersey investigation and says it was "undertaken for political purposes".
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it → tell → purposes
Our investigation has uncovered new evidence about the way Abramovich's business empire has been run.
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empire → uncover → way
It also raises serious questions about the integrity of some of his professional advisers.
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It → raise → advisers
The evidence is contained in a leak that includes thousands of documents about the oligarch's finances and the operations of a network of offshore companies administered from Cyprus - which used to be a tax haven popular with Russians - between 1995 and 2022.
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which → contain → 1995
The BBC and media partners including the Guardian, Paper Trail Media, the Organised Crime and Corruption Reporting Project, and the Cyprus Investigative Reporting Network - as well as the Bureau of Investigative Journalism, external - have been reporting on the leaked files since 2023 as part of the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists' Cyprus Confidential, external investigation.
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BBC → include → Confidential
In 2022, Panorama also reported on how Abramovich had made his fortune from a corrupt deal to buy a Russian state-owned oil company in the 1990s, selling it back to the government a decade later for billions in profit.
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Abramovich → report → profit
He has previously said allegations of corruption in the deal are false.
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allegations → say → deal
The profits from Abramovich's oil deals in Russia were funnelled into a web of offshore companies.
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profits → funnel → companies
They were administered from Cyprus by a corporate services firm called MeritServus, in Limassol, the island's second-largest city.
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They → administer → Limassol
Until 2005, Deloitte - now the biggest of the "big four" firms which dominate the accounting industry - owned MeritServus.
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which → dominate → MeritServus
After they split, the two companies worked closely together with Abramovich's associates to manage his global fortune.
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companies → split → fortune
The leaked documents from MeritServus reveal some of their practices.
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documents → leak → practices
Panorama - Roman Abramovich: How He Hid His Fortune
He was the Russian oligarch who brought his wealth to the UK.
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who → hide → UK
But what’s the truth about Roman Abramovich’s fortune?
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truth → ’ → fortune
Panorama investigates the documents that were falsified to hide his wealth and evade tax.
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that → investigate → tax
Our first example of backdated paperwork comes in 2006, after a new law in Cyprus meant that company accounts had to be made public.
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accounts → come → Cyprus
The new transparency law threatened to expose the secrets of Abramovich's vast wealth.
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law → threaten → wealth
Deloitte Cyprus had prepared draft accounts for 2003 - but had not yet finalised them - for his Cypriot company Amiscan Investments.
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Cyprus → prepare → company
The accounts detailed $672m of luxury property.
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accounts → detail → property
A mansion in West Sussex, a luxury flat in London and an estate in the south of France were all included - plus helicopters, private jets and a small fleet of boats the oligarch owned at the time, including the $147.5m Pelorus.
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oligarch → include → Pelorus
To keep them secret, Abramovich's associates and Meritservus decided to rewrite history.
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associates → keep → history
They drew up a plan to circumvent the transparency law by transferring the assets to Amiscan's parent company in the British Virgin Islands (BVI), where they could be kept hidden.
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they → draw → Islands
And they backdated the change by three years to make it look like the asset transfer had happened in 2003.
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transfer → backdate → 2003
Deloitte Cyprus reviewed the backdated documents and said they were "adequate" to allow them to remove the assets from Amiscan's accounts.
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them → review → accounts
When the 2003 accounts were signed off by Deloitte in 2006, the homes, planes and yachts disappeared at the stroke of a pen.
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homes → sign → pen
Only $75,000 of assets remained.
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75,000 → remain → assets
Deloitte signed off the accounts even though the leaked documents show it knew they were completely misleading.
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they → sign → accounts
Lord Sikka, professor of accounting at the University of Sheffield, said it was a "violation of a statutory duty" and "pretty scandalous" to misrepresent transaction dates and not to publish true and fair accounts.
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it → say → accounts
…and 31 more, not listed.
The Aporia
