Deloitte, the world's largest accountancy firm, signed off falsified documents that hid approximately $672m in assets belonging to Russian oligarch Roman Abramovich, according to a BBC Panorama investigation in partnership with the Bureau of Investigative Journalism.
The scheme centred on Abramovich's Cypriot company Amiscan Investments. In 2006, after Cyprus introduced a transparency law requiring public disclosure of company accounts, Deloitte Cyprus reviewed backdated documents that transferred luxury assets, including superyachts, mansions and private jets, from the Cypriot entity to a parent company in the British Virgin Islands. Deloitte marked the backdated documents as "adequate" despite evidence it knew the transaction dates were false. When the 2003 accounts were finalised in 2006, the assets vanished from public records. Only $75,000 remained listed.
The leaked documents, part of the Cyprus Confidential investigation coordinated by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists, span operations between 1995 and 2022 through an offshore network administered from Cyprus. The corporate services firm MeritServus, based in Limassol, managed these operations. Deloitte owned MeritServus until 2005 and continued working closely with it afterward.
Barrister Andrew Mitchell KC, an expert in financial services law, characterised the scheme to investigators as "straightforward" tax evasion that "couldn't be more blatant". Lord Sikka, professor of accounting at the University of Sheffield, called the practice a "violation of a statutory duty" and "pretty scandalous".
Abramovich's legal representatives denied he evaded tax or concealed his fortune. They stated Panorama produced no evidence he knew about, authorised or directed any document falsification and that relying on professional advice was legitimate. Deloitte Cyprus said it "acts in compliance with applicable laws".
The investigation also references evidence of backdated documents used in additional tax evasion schemes involving another Abramovich company, Kravin Investments, which held approximately $2bn in assets.
Abramovich, sanctioned by the UK government in 2022 as an associate of President Vladimir Putin following Russia's invasion of Ukraine, currently resides in Turkey. A criminal investigation in Jersey, where $5.4bn of his assets remain frozen, has been ongoing for four years.