Russian oligarch Roman Abramovich could owe the UK up to £1 billion over a failed attempt to avoid tax, according to documents obtained by the BBC.
Documents show that investments worth $6 billion (£4.7 billion) were channelled through companies in the British Virgin Islands (BVI). But evidence suggests that these investments were managed from the British territory, meaning they should have been taxed in the UK.
Some of the money that funded Chelsea FC, when Abramovich owned the English club, can be traced back to companies involved in this scheme, according to the BBC and the Bureau of Investigative Journalism.
At the centre of the scheme is Eugene Shvidler, a former Chelsea FC director and billionaire businessman who is currently challenging British sanctions over his links to Abramovich. Shvidler lived in Britain from 2004 to 2022, before moving to the US following Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
A tax expert told the BBC that the fact that Shvidler made strategic investment decisions while living in Britain is "strong evidence" that the companies should have been taxed in the UK.
Leaked documents show that from 2008, Shvidler had full power to manage the investments of Keygrove Holdings Ltd, the BVI company that held these investments. He operated through Millennium Capital Ventures Ltd, which gave him the authority to decide on the investments.
A 2023 lawsuit by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission against Concord Management, a New York firm that advised Abramovich's companies on investments, identified Shvidler as "Person B" who made investment decisions.
Tax expert Rita de la Feria called this "strong evidence" that the management of the companies was not done from the BVI, but from Britain, resulting in the obligation to pay tax in the United Kingdom.
In addition, the documents show how untaxed profits from these investments were funnelled through a network of companies before being used to fund Chelsea FC. The profits initially flowed back to Keygrove, which lent them to Abramovich's other companies, before being passed on to Camberley International Investments Ltd, the company that financed Chelsea FC.
The accounts show that if HMRC were to investigate the case, Abramovich and his companies could be forced to pay more than £500m in unpaid taxes. But if you add in penalties and interest, the figure rises to £1bn.
Following the sale of Chelsea FC, £2.5 billion of the proceeds from the sale remain frozen in a British bank account. Abramovich wants these funds to go to “all victims” of the war in Ukraine, but the British government insists they should only be used for humanitarian aid to Ukraine. (A2 Televizion)
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