Deloitte Cyprus accused of helping hide Abramovich’s billions

Deloitte Cyprus is alleged to have created backdated documents that removed billions of Roman Abramovich’s assets from Cypriot company accounts, an international investigation published on Monday claimed. The joint inquiry by BBC Panorama, the Bureau of Investigative Journalism and the Organised Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCR), draws on thousands of leaked emails and corporate documents. It alleges that advisers created or approved papers that presented asset transfers as past transactions, to limit tax and disclosure duties. In one case, Amiscan Investments, a Cypriot company dissolved since 2011, draft 2003 accounts listed luxury assets of about €578 million. They included yachts worth €304 million, aircraft worth €122 million and property in France and Britain worth €109 million. An agreement drawn up in 2006 but dated January 4, 2003, showed 19 subsidiaries passing to Kelvedon Worldwide, a company in the British Virgin Islands whose current status is unclear. Deloitte Cyprus reportedly reviewed the papers and judged them enough to remove the holdings from the accounts. When the accounts were approved in December 2006, assets of about €65,000 remained. Disclose as little as possible In a January 2007 email, a Deloitte Cyprus executive wrote that Amiscan’s main priority was to disclose as little as possible about its subsidiaries. In a second case, Electus Investments, a Cypriot company that the investigation says was kept active to own Millhouse UK and tied to assets worth more than €8.6 billion, saw assets moved in 2006 to a company of the same name in the British Virgin Islands, which had lighter disclosure rules. The transfer was dated November 20, 2003, although emails show it was planned in 2006. When Electus accounts became public, the Cypriot company showed about €125,000. The third case concerns Kravin Investments, a company since dissolved after a voluntary liquidation, which received about €2.6 billion in 2003 from the sale of Sibneft shares to Yukos. Sibneft is now Gazprom Neft, and Yukos was declared bankrupt and liquidated. About €1.5 billion sat in bank accounts and earned interest that created Cypriot tax liabilities. Emails show Deloitte Cyprus, MeritServus and Abramovich associates discussed a plan in 2005 to make it appear the money had gone to Kelvedon in 2003. Accounts filed in Cyprus showed total tax charges of about €13,000 for 2004 and 2005. Sanctioned by the UK in 2023 MeritServus, a Limassol corporate services firm that Britain sanctioned in 2023, managed much of Abramovich’s network. It was part of Deloitte Cyprus until 2005, and the two continued to work together afterwards. Dimitris Ioannides was president of Deloitte Cyprus for almost two decades until 2005 and was later linked to MeritServus. Britain sanctioned him and MeritServus in 2023, alleging that complex structures hid nearly €860 million of Abramovich’s assets. Ioannides declined to comment through his lawyers, citing health problems. Abramovich’s lawyers rejected the allegations of tax evasion and concealment, saying there is no evidence he took part in, knew of or ordered falsified documents, and that he relied on professional advisers, including Deloitte. A separate criminal case is before Cypriot courts over the management of luxury yachts through Blue Ocean Management, a company once tied to Abramovich that was struck off in July 2024 and reinstated by court order in June 2025, with MeritServus group company, Meritservus Secretaries Limited, and two former executives are also charged. Prosecutors say tax and interest above €26 million went unpaid and returns were not filed. The investigation does not say the money vanished, only that the assets stopped appearing in Cypriot company records. When contacted for comment by the Cyprus Mail, Deloitte Cyprus said it acts in accordance with applicable law but declined to comment on the specific allegations. The Cyprus Mail approached the justice ministry and police for comment on the case.