Roman Abramovich tax dodge should be probed, HMRC urged | EUROtoday

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Getty Images A close of up a bearded Roman Abramovich in a blue suit and white shirt looking to his rightGetty Images

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

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

“Proper investigation of these matters is essential,” the letter stated. HMRC stated it was “committed to ensuring everyone pays the right tax under the law, regardless of wealth or status”.

Mr Abramovich’s attorneys have instructed the BBC he “always obtained independent expert professional tax and legal advice” and “acted in accordance with that advice”.

Leaked papers reveal investments from Mr Abramovich value $6bn (£4.7bn) have been routed by firms 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 inspecting the papers for over a 12 months – 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 International Consortium of Investigative Journalists’ Cyprus Confidential investigation.

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

Mr Powell’s letter stated these findings elevate “serious questions about Mr Abramovich’s potential tax liabilities”

It referred to as on HMRC “to investigate and, if appropriate, to reclaim any funds potentially owed by Roman Abramovich to the UK tax authorities” in reference to the findings from the BBC, TBIJ, and The Guardian.

“Given the scale of the sums involved, ensuring that any unpaid taxes are recovered is a matter of public interest—particularly at a time when funds are urgently needed for public services and to manage the national debt,” the letter added.

A HMRC spokesperson stated it was “continuing to lead international efforts to improve global transparency”.

‘Broadest attainable powers’

It shouldn’t be uncommon for companies to legally keep away from paying tax on their income by making their investments from firms in tax havens. But the businesses concerned should be managed and managed offshore the place they’re included.

If an offshore firm’s strategic choices are being taken by somebody within the UK, its income might 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 firms handed sweeping powers over them to a pal of Mr Abramovich, Eugene Shvidler, who was dwelling within the UK and gained British citizenship in 2010.

The BBC has seen “general power of attorney” paperwork dated between 2004 and 2008, that gave him the “broadest possible powers” and “full power to do everything and anything” to funding firms within the BVI.

Lawyers for Mr Shvidler stated the BBC was basing its reporting on “confidential business documents that present an incomplete picture” and had “drawn strong and erroneous conclusions as to Mr Shvidler’s conduct”.

They stated “the structure of investments” was “the subject of very careful and detailed tax planning, undertaken and advised on by leading tax advisors”.

Cyprus Confidential is worldwide collaborative investigation launched in 2023 led by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) into Cyprus corporations supplied company and monetary companies 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.

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

TBIJ reporting workforce: Simon Lock and Eleanor Rose.

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cy5kglpgnx2o