Deloitte’s Abramovich work under investigation by Cyprus police

Police have launched an investigation into our revelations that Deloitte Cyprus and its spin-off Meritservus spent a decade falsifying paperwork that helped Roman Abramovich hide his wealth and dodge tax.

A representative of the Cypriot police’s Financial Intelligence Unit told MPs at a parliamentary committee this week that they were gathering evidence for analysis, according to our media partner CiREN.

A Justice Ministry official said our reporting would be assessed as part of the investigation. They did not give any more specifics but said it will probably be several months before any findings are made public.

Our investigation, published in collaboration with BBC Panorama, the Guardian and the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project, uncovered how backdated paperwork from 1999 to 2013 was used to rewrite corporate history, helping the oligarch conceal at least $10bn in assets and dodge large amounts of tax. Deloitte staff falsified these documents then signed off accounts as “true and fair”, all as a matter of routine.

Lawyers for Abramovich told us he denied any knowledge of, or involvement in, “unlawful backdating”, as well as concealing assets or evading tax. They said companies linked to him had relied on advice from “Deloitte, one of the ‘Big Four’ accounting firms”.

Deloitte Cyprus told us it could not comment on specifics as it did not have access to correspondence “from more than 20 years ago”. It said it “acts in compliance with applicable laws”.

A representative for the Cypriot tax commissioner said at the meeting that tax reviews can only go back as far as six years but a court conviction for tax evasion could lead to an order to recover unpaid taxes.

Meanwhile, the country’s public audit oversight board announced on Wednesday that it too was gathering evidence, specifically into Deloitte Cyprus.

“The authority has been informed of the recent publications and is taking all necessary actions, within the framework of its legal responsibilities and obligations, with the aim of serving the public interest,” its director general Panos Prodromitis told Cyprus Mail.

At the committee meeting, a representative for the board said that it had since held several discussions with Deloitte Cyprus, which claimed to have struggled to retrieve data and communications from the period under investigation.

They also said that, the authority had had sought legal advice on whether it was able to act on events that occurred before it was established in 2017.

The accountants’ institute, ICPAC, noted it had earlier revoked the licences of Meritservus-related companies and its owner, Demetris Ioannides.

Separately, our previous reporting on Blue Ocean Management, the company that managed Abramovich’s yachts, led to legal proceedings over a tax bill of €14.2m, which has since increased with interest to over €25m.

A criminal trial of the former directors of the company is scheduled to take place next month.