Roman Abramovich tax dodge have to be probed, HMRC urged

Sanctioned Russian oligarch Roman Abramovich have to be investigated over the £1bn he may owe, a gaggle of MPs has urged HMRC.

In a letter to the tax authority, Joe Powell, a Labour MP who leads a Parliamentary group on truthful taxation, refers to BBC stories elevating questions on whether or not tax is due on offshore investments.

“Correct investigation of those issues is crucial,” the letter mentioned. HMRC mentioned it was “dedicated to making sure everybody pays the appropriate tax beneath the regulation, no matter wealth or standing”.

Mr Abramovich’s legal professionals have informed the BBC he “all the time obtained impartial professional skilled tax and authorized recommendation” and “acted in accordance with that recommendation”.

Leaked papers reveal investments from Mr Abramovich price $6bn (£4.7bn) have been routed by way of corporations within the British Virgin Islands (BVI), however proof seen by the BBC suggests they have been managed from the UK, so ought to have been taxed there.

The BBC and the Bureau of Investigative Journalism have been analyzing the papers for over a yr – hundreds of recordsdata and emails from a Cyprus-based firm that administered Mr Abramovich’s world empire.

The BBC and its media companions, together with The Guardian, have been reporting on the leaked recordsdata since 2023 as a part of the Worldwide Consortium of Investigative Journalists’ Cyprus Confidential investigation.

A few of the cash that funded Chelsea FC when Mr Abramovich owned it may be traced again to corporations concerned within the scheme, the BBC and its companions additionally discovered.

Mr Powell’s letter mentioned these findings elevate “critical questions on Mr Abramovich’s potential tax liabilities”

It known as on HMRC “to analyze and, if applicable, to reclaim any funds doubtlessly owed by Roman Abramovich to the UK tax authorities” in reference to the findings from the BBC, TBIJ, and The Guardian.

“Given the dimensions of the sums concerned, making certain that any unpaid taxes are recovered is a matter of public curiosity—significantly at a time when funds are urgently wanted for public providers and to handle the nationwide debt,” the letter added.

A HMRC spokesperson mentioned it was “persevering with to guide worldwide efforts to enhance world transparency”.

It’s not uncommon for companies to legally keep away from paying tax on their earnings by making their investments from corporations in tax havens. However the corporations concerned have to be managed and managed offshore the place they’re integrated.

If an offshore firm’s strategic selections are being taken by somebody within the UK, its earnings may very well be taxed as if it have been a UK firm.

The leaked paperwork seen by the BBC present how the administrators of the BVI funding corporations handed sweeping powers over them to a pal of Mr Abramovich, Eugene Shvidler, who was residing within the UK and gained British citizenship in 2010.

The BBC has seen “normal energy of legal professional” paperwork dated between 2004 and 2008, that gave him the “broadest potential powers” and “full energy to do all the pieces and something” to funding corporations within the BVI.

Legal professionals for Mr Shvidler mentioned the BBC was basing its reporting on “confidential enterprise paperwork that current an incomplete image” and had “drawn sturdy and faulty conclusions as to Mr Shvidler’s conduct”.

They mentioned “the construction of investments” was “the topic of very cautious and detailed tax planning, undertaken and suggested on by main tax advisors”.

Cyprus Confidential is worldwide collaborative investigation launched in 2023 led by the Worldwide Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) into Cyprus corporations supplied company and monetary providers to associates of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s regime, primarily based on paperwork from a company service supplier initially obtained by the whistleblowing group Distributed Denial of Secrets and techniques.

Media companions embrace The Guardian, the investigative newsroom Paper Path Media, the Italian newspaper L’Espresso, the Organised Crime and Corruption Reporting Mission (OCCRP) and the Bureau of Investigative Journalism (TBIJ).

TBIJ reporting workforce: Simon Lock and Eleanor Rose.