A recent investigation by BBC Panorama and the Bureau of Investigative Journalism has uncovered evidence that the world's largest accountancy firm, Deloitte, helped falsify documents to conceal Roman Abramovich's wealth and evade tax. The investigation found that Deloitte signed off on accounts in Cyprus that showed assets worth $672m, including superyachts, mansions, and private jets, had vanished from Abramovich's company accounts.
The investigation revealed that Deloitte advised on a scheme to evade a huge tax bill on Abramovich's wealth by falsifying documents. According to barrister Andrew Mitchell KC, an expert in financial services law, the scheme was "straightforward" tax evasion and "it couldn't be more blatant". Abramovich's lawyers have denied that he evaded tax or concealed his fortune, stating that Panorama provided no evidence he knew about, authorised or directed the falsification of any document.
The investigation found that Abramovich's business empire was administered from Cyprus, a tax haven popular with Russians, between 1995 and 2022. The leaked documents, which include thousands of files about Abramovich's finances and the operations of a network of offshore companies, reveal some of the practices used by his associates and Deloitte to manage his global fortune.
One example of the falsified documents dates back to 2006, when a new law in Cyprus required company accounts to be made public. To keep Abramovich's assets secret, his associates and MeritServus, a corporate services firm in Limassol, decided to rewrite history by transferring the assets to Amiscan's parent company in the British Virgin Islands, where they could be kept hidden.
The investigation also found evidence that backdated documents were used in a tax evasion scheme involving another one of Abramovich's Cypriot companies, Kravin Investments, which had almost $2bn in the bank in 2003. Deloitte Cyprus reviewed the backdated documents and said they were "adequate" to allow them to remove the assets from Amiscan's accounts, despite knowing they were misleading.
Experts have criticised Deloitte's actions, with Lord Sikka, professor of accounting at the University of Sheffield, describing it as a "violation of a statutory duty" and "pretty scandalous" to misrepresent transaction dates and not to publish true and fair accounts.
Abramovich's assets remain frozen in the Channel Island of Jersey, and a criminal investigation has been ongoing for four years. His lawyers have stated that he denies the allegations in the Jersey investigation and says it was "undertaken for political purposes".
Key points
- Deloitte helped falsify documents to conceal Roman Abramovich's $672m assets and evade tax.
- The investigation found evidence of a tax evasion scheme involving Abramovich's Cypriot company, Kravin Investments.
- Experts have criticised Deloitte's actions as a "violation of a statutory duty" and "pretty scandalous".
