Deloitte, the world’s largest accountancy firm, has been accused of helping conceal hundreds of millions of pounds in assets linked to Russian oligarch Roman Abramovich, with leaked documents allegedly revealing fabricated paperwork and a scheme to evade tax.
An investigation by the BBC and the Bureau of Investigative Journalism found that company accounts approved by Deloitte’s Cyprus office allegedly enabled assets worth $672 million (£508 million) — including superyachts, luxury properties and private aircraft — to disappear from the books of corporate entities associated with the billionaire.
The investigation also alleged that the firm appeared to provide guidance on a scheme designed to avoid a substantial tax liability through the fabrication of documents.
The revelations are based on thousands of leaked files detailing Abramovich’s financial affairs and an extensive network of offshore companies operated from Cyprus between 1995 and 2022.
Andrew Mitchell KC, a barrister specialising in financial services law, described the alleged arrangement as “straightforward” tax evasion.
“It couldn’t be more blatant,” he said.
Deloitte Cyprus said the firm “acts in compliance with applicable laws”.
Lawyers representing Abramovich denied that he had evaded tax or concealed his wealth. They said the investigation provided no evidence that he knew about, approved or orchestrated the alleged falsification of documents, adding that relying on professional advisers was entirely legitimate.
His legal representatives also rejected allegations at the centre of a separate investigation in Jersey, describing it as having been “undertaken for political purposes”.
The allegations revive scrutiny of the financial structures surrounding one of Britain’s most prominent Russian billionaires, whose business empire and football ownership once made him a fixture of the UK establishment.
Abramovich bought Chelsea Football Club in 2003 and financed a period of unprecedented success. His position in Britain collapsed after Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, when the UK Government sanctioned him as an associate of President Vladimir Putin, forcing him to relinquish ownership of the club.
He has reportedly been living in Turkey, which has not imposed sanctions against him.
Meanwhile, assets worth £5.4 billion belonging to Abramovich remain frozen in Jersey, where a criminal investigation has entered its fourth year.
The leaked documents originated from MeritServus, a corporate services firm based in Limassol that administered offshore entities through which profits from Abramovich’s Russian oil dealings were channelled.
Deloitte owned MeritServus until 2005. Although the businesses subsequently separated, they continued to work closely with Abramovich’s associates in managing his international wealth.
The BBC reported in 2022 that Abramovich had built his fortune through the acquisition of a Russian state oil company in the 1990s before selling it back to the government for billions. Abramovich denied those allegations.
The latest findings raise fresh questions about the role of professional advisers in managing complex offshore fortunes — and whether the safeguards governing international financial services were sufficient to prevent alleged misconduct.
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