An investigation by a national broadcaster's Panorama team and the Bureau of Investigative Journalism has uncovered evidence that Deloitte, the world's largest accountancy firm, assisted in falsifying documents to conceal Roman Abramovich's wealth and facilitate tax evasion. Accounts signed off by Deloitte in Cyprus allowed assets including superyachts, mansions and private jets valued at $672 million to disappear from the oligarch's company records. The scheme involved backdating documents and transferring assets to offshore jurisdictions to evade tax obligations and circumvent transparency laws.
Barrister Andrew Mitchell KC, an expert in financial services law, characterised the evidence as demonstrating
"straightforward" tax evasion and "it couldn't be more blatant". He added that
if such a scheme had occurred in England involving millions of pounds, "His Majesty's Revenue and Customs would be thinking about a prosecution".
Roman Abramovich's legal representatives denied that he evaded tax or concealed his fortune. They stated that Panorama provided no evidence he knew about, authorised or directed the falsification of any document, and argued it was legitimate to rely on advice from professional advisers. Deloitte Cyprus said it
"acts in compliance with applicable laws".
How did the scheme work?
The investigation examined leaked documents spanning nearly three decades of Abramovich's financial operations through a network of offshore companies administered from Cyprus between 1995 and 2022. The evidence reveals multiple instances where assets were systematically hidden through backdated paperwork and transfers to jurisdictions with less stringent disclosure requirements.
In 2006, following a new Cypriot transparency law requiring company accounts to be made public, Deloitte Cyprus had prepared draft accounts for 2003 for Abramovich's Cypriot company Amiscan Investments. These accounts detailed $672 million in luxury assets, including a mansion in West Sussex, a luxury flat in London, an estate in the south of France, helicopters, private jets and a fleet of boats including the $147.5 million yacht Pelorus.
To circumvent the transparency requirement, Abramovich's associates and MeritServus, the corporate services firm administering his companies, devised a plan to transfer the assets to Amiscan's parent company in the British Virgin Islands, where they could remain hidden. Crucially, they backdated this transfer by three years to make it appear the asset movement had occurred in 2003.
Deloitte Cyprus reviewed the backdated documents and approved them as "adequate" to justify removing the assets from Amiscan's accounts. When the 2003 accounts were signed off by Deloitte in 2006, the homes, planes and yachts vanished from the records. Only $75,000 of assets remained listed.
Lord Sikka, professor of accounting at the University of Sheffield, characterised the practice as a
"violation of a statutory duty"and
"pretty scandalous" to misrepresent transaction dates and not to publish true and fair accounts.
What evidence exists of tax evasion?
The investigation identified a second scheme involving Kravin Investments, another Cypriot company controlled by Abramovich that held nearly $2 billion in 2003. The company was earning substantial interest income that should have been subject to Cypriot tax, but advisers devised a plan to rewrite the historical record.
An email from MeritServus dated August 2005 to Abramovich's Russian associates outlined the strategy:
"If you agree, it will be necessary to change the financial statements and the accounting records accordingly for 2003 and 2004". The email indicated the plan had been devised following a meeting with Deloitte.
MeritServus informed Abramovich's associates that Kravin's tax assessments for 2005 would be filed showing the company earning no income from the funds. A Russian associate responded by email one month later:
"I agree".
MeritServus then created a series of backdated documents falsely portraying Kravin as merely holding and investing the funds on behalf of its parent company in the British Virgin Islands. This arrangement was designed to make it appear Kravin did not actually own the money and therefore would not be liable for Cypriot tax.
In a September 2005 email, Deloitte wrote that
"certain changes will have to be made to the accounts (bank account balances, interest income, profit and loss account)" because of the backdated changes to Kravin's assets. This evidence suggests Deloitte was advising on the falsification of financial records, potentially allowing Abramovich's company to evade millions in tax.
How were billions in assets concealed?
Beyond the documented schemes, the investigation uncovered a third major concealment involving Electus Investments, a Cypriot company holding more than $10 billion of Abramovich's wealth. MeritServus backdated documents to make it appear Electus did not own the fortune.
The strategy involved creating another company with the identical name—Electus Investments—but registered in the British Virgin Islands, where accounts did not require public disclosure. Emails from 2006 show MeritServus acknowledged that the fortune was owned by Electus Cyprus but proposed to
"transfer the beneficial ownership to Electus Investments in the BVI"and falsely backdate the change to November 2003.
MeritServus signed and backdated documents falsely purporting to show the British Virgin Islands company had owned the $10 billion fortune since 20 November 2003. When the Cypriot company's accounts were made public, it appeared to hold only $145,000 in assets. Abramovich's billions had effectively been erased from public view.
What is Abramovich's background and current status?
For nearly two decades, Abramovich was the most prominent Russian oligarch in the United Kingdom, welcomed in London after purchasing Chelsea Football Club in 2003 and funding the club's most successful period. Following 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.
Abramovich has been reported to be residing in Turkey, which has not imposed sanctions against him. In the Channel Island of Jersey, £5.4 billion of his assets remain frozen as part of a criminal investigation that has been ongoing for four years. His legal representatives stated he denies the allegations in the Jersey investigation and contends it was
"undertaken for political purposes".
In 2022, Panorama also reported on how Abramovich accumulated his fortune through a corrupt deal to acquire a Russian state-owned oil company in the 1990s, subsequently selling it back to the government a decade later for billions in profit. Abramovich has previously denied allegations of corruption in the transaction.
What role did professional advisers play?
The profits from Abramovich's oil deals in Russia were channelled into a web of offshore companies administered from Cyprus by MeritServus, located in Limassol, the island's second-largest city. Until 2005, Deloitte owned MeritServus. After the companies separated, they continued working closely together with Abramovich's associates to manage his global fortune.
Andrew Mitchell KC told investigators that
"there are professionals who are prepared to bend and break the rules of their profession and therefore the law. And it looks that they will stop literally at nothing in terms of creating documents".
Vladimir Milov, who served as Russia's deputy minister of energy as Abramovich built his empire and now criticises the Russian government, observed:
"For each Russian oligarch or Middle Eastern or African corrupt oligarch, there's an army of Western financial and legal services and PR services providers, who is easily taking money for whitewashing their reputation and making them look normal".
Cypriot MP Christos Christofides stated that if tax had been evaded,
"we have to see how we can get our money back and how, if some people are guilty, they have to pay the price according to our law".
What additional schemes have been uncovered?
Beyond the document falsification schemes, a separate investigation has reported that Abramovich's yachts were presented as a commercial leasing operation to avoid millions of euros in value-added tax. According to reporting based on more than 400,000 leaked files and 72,000 emails, five vessels—Eclipse, Ecstasea, Luna, Le Grand Bleu and Pelorus—were reportedly "leased" through companies controlled by Abramovich as part of the Cyprus Confidential investigation.
What is the current status of investigations?
Jersey's four-year criminal investigation has not yet resulted in charges. Abramovich's attempts to have the investigation halted were rejected by the Jersey Royal Court and Court of Appeal; the Privy Council denied permission to appeal in November 2025. The investigation followed concerns about submissions Abramovich made in an earlier English court case regarding how he acquired shares in oil company Sibneft.
More recently, Abramovich filed a complaint with the European Court of Human Rights over Jersey's investigation, alleging violations of his rights to a fair trial and privacy. The UK government is named as respondent in the complaint. The European Court of Human Rights complaint is currently pending, with no hearing date or decision timetable yet announced.
Deloitte Cyprus said it could not comment on the specific allegations because the documents were more than 20 years old and no longer accessible. MeritServus closed following the Cyprus Confidential leak.
Roman Abramovich's lawyers maintained that he was
"not involved in the day-to-day operation of those companies"and that where arrangements were proposed by professional advisers,
"reliance on that advice was entirely proper and legitimate".
Key Facts
- Deloitte Cyprus signed off on accounts that removed $672 million in assets from Abramovich's company records through backdated transfers to the British Virgin Islands.
- A second scheme involved falsifying financial records for Kravin Investments to evade millions in Cypriot tax on interest income from nearly $2 billion in holdings.
- A third concealment transferred beneficial ownership of $10 billion in assets to a British Virgin Islands company with the same name, falsely backdated to 2003.
- Abramovich's yachts were presented as commercial leasing operations to avoid millions of euros in VAT, according to separate reporting on the leaked files.
- Jersey's criminal investigation remains ongoing without charges; Abramovich has challenged it at the European Court of Human Rights, with the case currently pending.
