Southern Cyprus police launched an investigation: Abramovich's companies and assets are under the spotlight

Southern Cyprus police investigated allegations that Russian billionaire Roman Abramovich used companies based in the Greek Cypriot Administration of Southern Cyprus (GCASC) to hide his billions of dollars of wealth and avoid paying taxes.

According to the news of Greek press Philenews and Kathimerini Kıbrıs dated October 21, the police started to collect evidence ex officio after the joint investigation published by BBC Panorama and The Bureau of Investigative Journalism (TBIJ) on October 12. The review is expected to take approximately 6 months.

In the investigation of BBC Panorama and TBIJ, based on leaked company documents, it was claimed that the Greek Cypriot Administration branch of the international auditing company Deloitte and Meritservus, which was later separated from it, helped Abramovich hide at least $10 billion in assets.

Investigative journalists reported that they identified more than 1,000 company documents prepared between 1999 and 2013, with retroactive dates changed.

Allegedly, these documents were used to hide the true ownership of assets and reduce tax liabilities by making transactions that the companies had not carried out in the past appear to have been made. It was claimed that Deloitte approved some company accounts based on the documents in question.

One of the striking parts of the research is about the accounts of Abramovich's Amiscan Investments company. According to the BBC's findings, the company's draft financial records for 2003 included $672 million in assets, including superyachts, private planes, helicopters and luxury real estate.

However, these assets did not appear in the accounts published later. Researchers claimed that past-dated documents showed that the ownership of the assets was transferred from Greek Cypriot Administration of Southern Cyprus to another company in the British Virgin Islands. According to Kathimerini, the transactions in question coincide with the period when regulations requiring the disclosure of company accounts to the public came into force in the Greek Cypriot Administration of Southern Cyprus.

The issue was discussed in the relevant committee of the Greek Cypriot Administration of Representatives. According to Philenews, Police General Directorate official Andreas Anastasiades announced that they started collecting information after the BBC investigation without waiting for instructions from another institution.

Anastasiades stated that the information collected was evaluated. Philenews wrote that during the meeting, it was reported that it had not been decided yet whether an official criminal investigation file would be opened. Kathimerini stated that the police investigation could take approximately six months and that necessary steps would be taken if findings indicating that a crime had been committed were found.

Deloitte Cyprus, to which Kathimerini asked for comment, stated that it could not comment on specific allegations in the news and argued that it carried out its activities in accordance with the applicable laws. Abramovich's lawyers also denied allegations that their client was aware of and participated in illegally backdated document preparation, wealth concealment activities or tax evasion. He reported that companies rely on the opinions of professional consultants.

One of the major obstacles to the file is that the allegations date back nearly 20 years. Greek Cypriot Ministry of Finance official Andreas Zachariades stated that the events covered the period 2003-2006, making the investigation difficult. Zachariades also explained that the Public Oversight Authority of the Auditing Profession was established in 2017 and, according to the legal opinion received, it does not have the authority to review events before its establishment.

In response, the police continue to evaluate the information obtained. BBC and TBIJ's investigation raised questions not only about Abramovich's wealth, but also about the past functioning of the financial control system in the Greek Cypriot Administration of Southern Cyprus. Whether the allegations give rise to criminal liability will become clear as a result of the investigation.