Deloitte helped falsify documents hiding Abramovich's $2bn wealth, BBC finds

Leaked documents suggest that Deloitte and a network of offshore advisers assisted Roman Abramovich in falsifying financial records to hide billions in assets and evade tax over nearly two decades, according to a joint investigation by BBC Panorama, the Guardian, the Bureau of Investigative Journalism and other media partners.

The investigation, based on the Cyprus Confidential leak of over 500,000 documents, reveals that accounts signed off by Deloitte in Cyprus recorded assets including superyachts, mansions and private jets worth $672 million as having "vanished" from Abramovich's company accounts. Documents show that in 2005, Demetris Ioannides, then chair of Deloitte Cyprus, wrote that it would be "necessary to change" financial statements for Kravin Investments, one of Abramovich's Cyprus-based vehicles that held approximately $2 billion in 2003. The scheme involved systematically backdating documents to create false paper trails suggesting transactions occurred years earlier than they actually did.

The leaked files also document a separate scheme in which Abramovich's closest London-based associate, Eugene Tenenbaum, appears to have misled the UK High Court during a 2008 dispute over Siberian oil fields. Tenenbaum testified that he only became aware of the joint venture Sibneft-Yugra in spring 2004 and possessed no documents relating to it. However, leaked documents show he had authorised Abramovich's purchase of shares in the venture in October 2003—months before his claimed date of awareness—and authorised a second related financial deal two months later. The 2008 case, which Abramovich won, centered on ownership of oil fields being developed jointly between Abramovich's company Sibneft and Yugraneft, owned by Russian billionaire Chalva Tchigirinsky. Yugraneft's stake was diluted from 50% to less than 1% through undisclosed shareholder meetings, resulting in claimed losses of not less than $2 billion (approximately £1 billion at 2008 values).

Barrister Andrew Mitchell KC, an expert in financial services law, characterised the evidence of falsified documents as "straightforward" tax evasion that "couldn't be more blatant." The investigation indicates the practices were orchestrated over many years by a cadre of aides, accountants and professional advisers who managed the transfer of billions between offshore jurisdictions. Deloitte Cyprus maintained a close working relationship with MeritServus, the corporate services firm that administered Abramovich's offshore network after Deloitte divested from it in 2005.

Abramovich's lawyers said he denies evading tax, concealing his fortune, misleading the court, or authorising document falsification. They stated he relied on advice from professional advisers and that Panorama provided no evidence he knew about, authorised or directed any improper documents. Tenenbaum's lawyers denied he committed perjury or contempt of court and said his evidence was given "honestly and in good faith." Deloitte Cyprus said it "acts in compliance with all applicable laws" and stated it could not comment on specifics from documents more than 20 years old as it no longer had access to the relevant material.

Abramovich was sanctioned by the UK and EU in 2022 following Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine and forced to sell Chelsea Football Club. He has reportedly relocated to Turkey. Approximately £5.4 billion of his assets remain frozen in Jersey, where a criminal investigation has been ongoing for four years. Abramovich's lawyers said the Jersey investigation was "undertaken for political purposes" and he denies the allegations.