In brief
BBC Panorama’s investigation found that Deloitte Cyprus aided Roman Abramovich in falsifying company accounts to conceal $672 million of luxury assets and $10 billion of business holdings, effectively evading tax. The back‑dated documents moved assets to a BVI holding company, stripping them from public Cypriot accounts and eliminating tax liability. While Abramovich’s lawyers and Deloitte deny wrongdoing, UK MPs have called for further inquiry and potential prosecution. The case underscores the risk of professional firms facilitating financial crime and the need for stronger regulatory oversight.
BBC Panorama has uncovered evidence that the world’s largest accounting firm, Deloitte Cyprus, helped Roman Abramovich conceal hundreds of millions of dollars of wealth, allowing tax to slip through Cyprus tax loopholes.
In a series of back‑dated documents sent to Cyprus regulators, Abramovich’s offshore companies moved luxury yachts, mansions and private jets worth an estimated $672 million out of their public accounts before the 2003 transparency law came into force.
Deloitte signed off on the phantom accounts in 2006, "adequate", the firm said, even though the files later showed the dates were falsified – a move that, legal experts say, is outright tax evasion.
When the Cyprus government back‑dated the changes to 2003, the assets disappeared from Amiscan and other companies and were declared to be held by a BVI holding firm, avoiding Cypriot tax on the $10 billion worth of business assets.
Both Abramovich’s lawyers and Deloitte Cyprus deny wrongdoing, but the revelations have sparked calls from UK MPs for investigations and potential prosecutions.
Below is a photograph illustrating some of the assets that were removed from public scrutiny:
