Leaked documents point to backdated paperwork concealing luxury assets and avoiding Cypriot taxes, adding to earlier revelations about the billionaire’s offshore network.
Deloitte Cyprus helped falsify documents to conceal Roman Abramovich’s wealth and appears to have advised on a scheme that allowed one of his companies to evade millions in Cypriot taxes, according to a joint investigation by BBC Panorama and the Bureau of Investigative Journalism.
The findings put Cyprus at the center of the story. The investigators examined leaked records from MeritServus, a Limassol corporate services firm that administered the Russian billionaire’s offshore companies and worked closely with Deloitte Cyprus.
Abramovich denies evading tax or concealing his fortune. His lawyers say the investigation provides no evidence that he knew about, authorized, or directed the falsification of documents. Deloitte Cyprus says it complies with applicable laws.
How $672 million disappeared from the accounts
One example concerns Amiscan Investments, a Cypriot company whose draft accounts for 2003 listed $672 million in luxury assets, including mansions, private aircraft, and superyachts.
According to the BBC, a new disclosure requirement in Cyprus threatened to make those holdings public. In 2006, Abramovich’s associates and MeritServus arranged paperwork transferring the assets to Amiscan’s parent company in the British Virgin Islands, where they could remain hidden from public view.
The documents were backdated to make the transfer appear to have happened three years earlier.
The BBC reports that Deloitte Cyprus reviewed the paperwork and accepted it as sufficient to remove the assets from Amiscan’s accounts. When the accounts were finalized, just $75,000 in assets remained.
The assets had not physically disappeared. The paperwork changed which company appeared to own them.
The alleged tax scheme
A separate arrangement involved Kravin Investments, another Cypriot company, which held almost $2 billion in bank deposits in 2003.
Interest earned on that money should have been subject to tax in Cyprus, according to the investigation. Instead, backdated documents made Kravin appear to be holding and investing the funds on behalf of its British Virgin Islands parent company.
That changed the apparent ownership of the money—and the company’s liability for Cypriot tax.
The BBC cites correspondence in which MeritServus said a plan had been developed following a meeting with Deloitte. A subsequent Deloitte email discussed changes needed to bank balances, interest income, and other accounting entries.
Andrew Mitchell KC, a financial services barrister consulted by Panorama, described the arrangement as tax evasion.
A familiar Cyprus connection
The findings build on Cyprus Confidential, the international investigation that began publishing revelations in 2023 about the island’s financial services industry and its dealings with Russian wealth.
Abramovich’s Cyprus connections have since featured in further reporting. In January 2025, KNEWS covered a separate investigation into arrangements presenting his privately used superyachts as commercial charter vessels to obtain tax exemptions. That reporting centered on Limassol-based Blue Ocean Yacht Management and a disputed €14 million VAT bill.
The latest investigation concerns different transactions: backdated corporate records and the ownership of assets and bank deposits. Its common thread with the earlier reporting is the network of companies and professional advisers operating through Cyprus.
For taxpayers here, the immediate issue is whether revenue owed to Cyprus was lost and whether it can be recovered. Cypriot lawmaker Christos Christofides told Panorama that, if tax evasion occurred, authorities must examine how to recover the money and hold those responsible accountable under the law.
What Deloitte and Abramovich say
Deloitte Cyprus told the BBC it could not address the specific allegations because the documents were more than 20 years old and no longer accessible. It said it acts in compliance with applicable laws.
Abramovich’s lawyers said he was not involved in the companies’ day-to-day operations and was entitled to rely on professional advice.
The allegations concern historical conduct and should not be treated as findings of criminal guilt. But the Cyprus connection is explicit: the investigation identifies Deloitte’s local operation and companies administered from Limassol, rather than merely noting that the international firm has offices here.
*Based on reporting by BBC Panorama and the Bureau of Investigative Journalism
