Lawyers for Abramovich have stated that he denies evading tax or concealing his fortune. Deloitte Cyprus stated that it acts in compliance with applicable laws, and added that it is unable to comment because the documents are more than 20 years old and no longer accessible. The inquiry aims to determine whether any criminal acts were committed through the operations of a network of offshore companies administered from Cyprus between 1995 and 2022.
Following those reports, two former company directors have been indicted and are due to stand trial in Cyprus next month over €25m in unpaid VAT. Questions about the integrity of some of Abramovich's professional advisers were also raised earlier this month.
The police investigation was announced at a parliamentary committee meeting in the Cypriot capital, Nicosia, held to discuss the combating and prevention of money laundering. A Ministry of Justice official told MPs about the police inquiry during the session.
Deloitte, the world's largest accountancy firm, appears to have advised on a scheme to evade a huge tax bill on the oligarch's wealth through the falsification of documents.
Cypriot police have opened an investigation into the financial affairs of the oligarch Roman Abramovich following the publication of leaked documents concerning his offshore network.
The evidence is contained in leaked files that include thousands of documents about Abramovich's finances. Previous reports have detailed a tax scheme that allowed Abramovich to dodge millions in tax on the running costs of his yachts.