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Roman Abramovich Could Owe UK £1 Billion Over Tax Evasion That Funded Chelsea FC

A tax avoidance scheme linked to Roman Abramovich may leave him owing the UK £1 billion.

Sanctioned Russian oligarch Roman Abramovich may owe the UK up to £1 billion due to a failed tax avoidance scheme involving hedge fund investments, according to evidence reviewed by the BBC.

Leaked documents reveal that investments worth $6 billion (£4.7 billion) were channelled through British Virgin Islands (BVI) companies, but evidence suggests they were actually managed from the UK and should have been taxed there.

Investigations by the BBC and the Bureau of Investigative Journalism (TBIJ) found that some of these funds were linked to Chelsea FC during Abramovich’s ownership.

Abramovich’s lawyers stated that he had always sought independent expert tax and legal advice and acted accordingly. The oligarch, who reportedly spends time between Istanbul, Tel Aviv, and the Russian resort of Sochi, denies any personal responsibility or knowledge of unpaid tax.

Labour MP Joe Powell, who chairs a Parliamentary group on fair taxation, has urged HM Revenue and Customs to investigate the case urgently, arguing that recovering the funds could benefit public services.

The scheme was reportedly overseen by Eugene Shvidler, a former Chelsea FC director and billionaire businessman currently challenging UK sanctions imposed due to his ties to Abramovich. Shvidler, who lived in the UK from 2004 to 2022 before relocating to the US after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, allegedly made key investment decisions from the UK, which a tax expert told the BBC is strong evidence that the companies should have been taxed in Britain.

Shvidler’s lawyers countered that the BBC’s findings relied on confidential business documents presenting an incomplete picture and that the investment structure had been carefully planned with advice from leading tax experts.

The tax avoidance scheme was uncovered through a massive leak of documents from a Cyprus-based firm that managed Abramovich’s financial empire.

The BBC, The Guardian, and other media partners have been investigating the files since 2023 as part of the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists’ Cyprus Confidential project.

On Tuesday, the BBC reported that Abramovich had also avoided millions in VAT on his yacht fleet’s operating costs. The leaked data further shows that a significant portion of his wealth, accumulated in the 1990s through a corrupt deal, was invested in Keygrove Holdings Ltd, a BVI company.

Keygrove Holdings Ltd and its network of BVI companies reportedly invested up to $6 billion (£4.8 billion) in Western hedge funds between the late 1990s and early 2020s.

These investments yielded an estimated $3.8 billion (£3.1 billion) in profits. By routing investments through the tax-free BVI, the scheme appears to have minimised tax obligations.

Faridah Abdulkadiri

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