Arsenal v Chelsea
Arsenal v Chelsea
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Ownership of Premier League clubs has long involved complex financial structures that are not always visible to supporters. When large assets move between offshore companies, the public accounts of those entities can change dramatically. Investigations that examine historical paperwork often reveal how those changes were achieved.
Transparency rules introduced in certain jurisdictions force companies to publish more detail than before. Advisers who help clients respond to those rules can influence what appears in the final accounts. The difference between accurate reporting and rewritten history becomes clearer when internal documents are later examined.
The sale of a major English club under sanctions leaves questions about the finances that previously sustained it. Those questions extend beyond the football side and into the wider business empire of the former owner. Professional firms that signed off accounts during that period face scrutiny once the underlying paperwork is reviewed.
BBC Panorama has found that Deloitte helped in falsifying documents to hide Roman Abramovich’s wealth and evade tax. Accounts signed off by Deloitte in Cyprus meant assets such as superyachts, mansions and private jets worth $672 million (£508 million) vanished from the oligarch’s company accounts. The investigation was conducted jointly with the Bureau of Investigative Journalism.
Abramovich owned Chelsea from 2003 until he was sanctioned by the UK government in 2022 and forced to sell the club. The leaked documents, which cover the period from 1995 to 2022, show how assets were moved between Cypriot companies and entities in the British Virgin Islands through backdated paperwork. Deloitte Cyprus reviewed some of those documents and described them as “adequate”.
Barrister Andrew Mitchell KC, an expert in financial services law, said the evidence showed the scheme was “straightforward” tax evasion and “it couldn’t be more blatant”. Lord Sikka, professor of accounting at the University of Sheffield, described the misrepresentation of transaction dates as a “violation of a statutory duty” and “pretty scandalous”.
A separate scheme involving another of Abramovich’s Cypriot companies, which held almost $2 billion, used backdated documents to suggest the firm was only holding funds on behalf of a parent company. This reduced the apparent tax liability on interest income. Deloitte appears to have advised on the changes required to the accounts.
Abramovich’s lawyers told the BBC that he denies evading tax or concealing his fortune. They said there was no evidence he knew about or authorised the falsification of any document and that it was legitimate to rely on professional advice. Deloitte Cyprus said it “acts in compliance with applicable laws”.
The investigation also covers a third set of records involving more than $10 billion held by a company called Electus Investments. MeritServus, the firm that administered many of the offshore companies, backdated documents to transfer beneficial ownership to a British Virgin Islands entity of the same name. The result was that the Cypriot company’s public accounts showed almost no assets.
The findings form part of the wider Cyprus Confidential investigation into leaked files from the island. They raise questions about the practices used by advisers managing the finances of a former Premier League owner. Further reporting is expected as more details from the documents are examined.