A joint investigation by Panorama and the Bureau of Investigative Journalism has revealed that Deloitte, the world’s largest accountancy firm, allegedly assisted in falsifying documents to hide the wealth of Russian oligarch Roman Abramovich and evade significant tax payments. The evidence, derived from a massive leak of financial records covering the period between 1995 and 2022, details how offshore companies managed from Cyprus were used to manipulate the businessman’s financial disclosures. Our investigation has uncovered new evidence about the way Abramovich’s business empire has been run. The profits from Abramovich’s oil deals in Russia were funnelled into a web of offshore companies.
Specifically, accounting records signed off by Deloitte in Cyprus resulted in the disappearance of assets worth approximately $672 million (about £508 million) from Abramovich’s company accounts. These assets, which included luxury superyachts, private jets, and expansive mansions such as the Chateau de la Croe in France and Fyning Hill in Sussex, were effectively masked through the use of backdated paperwork. Experts in financial services law, including barrister Andrew Mitchell KC, have reviewed the evidence and described the scheme as a clear, blatant example of tax evasion.
The documents originated from MeritServus, a corporate services firm based in Limassol that managed the oligarch’s offshore network. Deloitte maintained ownership of MeritServus until 2005, and even after the entities separated, they reportedly continued to work in close coordination with Abramovich’s associates to oversee his global financial interests. This investigation is part of the broader ‘Cyprus Confidential’ project, which involves various international media partners including the Guardian, Paper Trail Media, and the Organised Crime and Corruption Reporting Project. 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. The leaked documents from MeritServus reveal some of their practices.
In response to these findings, representatives for Roman Abramovich stated that he denies evading tax or concealing his fortune. His legal team argued that the evidence provided does not prove he had knowledge of, authorized, or directed the falsification of any specific documents, maintaining that it was legitimate for him to rely on the professional advice he received. Furthermore, Deloitte Cyprus asserted in a statement that the firm conducts its operations in full compliance with all applicable legal requirements.
Abramovich has faced significant international scrutiny since the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, which led the UK government to impose sanctions on him as an associate of President Vladimir Putin. These measures forced the sale of Chelsea Football Club, which he had owned since 2003, and resulted in the freezing of approximately £5.4 billion of his assets in the Channel Island of Jersey. While he has been linked to various investigations, his legal counsel has characterized the Jersey probe as being motivated by political factors. 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. According to abramovich has been, To be living in Turkey, a safe haven for him because it did not apply 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.
This is not the first time the billionaire’s financial dealings have been under the spotlight. Previous reporting indicated that his initial fortune was built on a 1990s deal involving a state-owned Russian oil company, which was acquired and later sold back to the government for billions in profit. Abramovich has consistently denied allegations of corruption regarding those transactions, despite the recurring questions surrounding the integrity of the offshore structures and professional advisors that managed his empire for nearly two decades.
