Deloitte falsified documents to evade tax on Abramovich's wealth

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The world’s biggest accountancy firm helped in falsifying documents to hide Roman Abramovich’s wealth and evade tax, BBC Panorama has found.

据英国广播公司（BBC）《全景》节目调查发现，全球最大的会计师事务所曾协助伪造文件，以隐匿罗曼·阿布拉莫维奇（Roman Abramovich）的财富并逃避税收。

Accounts signed off by Deloitte in Cyprus meant assets such as superyachts, mansions and private jets worth $672m (£508m) vanished from Abramovich’s company accounts.

德勤（Deloitte）塞浦路斯分公司签署的账目导致价值6.72亿美元（约合5.08亿英镑）的超级游艇、豪宅和私人飞机等资产从阿布拉莫维奇的公司账目中消失。

Deloitte also appears to have advised on a scheme to evade a huge tax bill on the oligarch’s wealth through the falsification of documents.

德勤似乎还曾就一项通过伪造文件来逃避该寡头巨额税单的计划提供过咨询。

Barrister Andrew Mitchell KC, an expert in financial services law, said Panorama’s evidence showed the scheme was “straightforward” tax evasion and “it couldn’t be more blatant”.

金融服务法专家、大律师安德鲁·米切尔（Andrew Mitchell KC）表示，《全景》节目提供的证据表明，该计划属于“直接的”逃税行为，且“再明显不过了”。

Roman Abramovich’s lawyers said he denies that he evaded tax or concealed his fortune. They said Panorama provided no evidence he knew about, authorised or directed the falsification of any document and said it was legitimate to rely on advice from professionals.

罗曼·阿布拉莫维奇的律师表示，他否认自己曾逃税或隐匿财产。他们称，《全景》节目并未提供证据证明他知晓、授权或指示过任何文件的伪造，并表示依赖专业人士的建议是合法的。

Deloitte Cyprus said it “acts in compliance with applicable laws”.

德勤塞浦路斯分公司表示，其“行为符合适用法律”。

The findings are being revealed following a joint investigation between BBC Panorama and the Bureau of Investigative Journalism.

这些调查结果是在BBC《全景》节目与调查新闻局（Bureau of Investigative Journalism）联合调查后披露的。

For nearly two decades, Roman Abramovich was the most famous Russian oligarch in the UK, welcomed in London where he bought Chelsea Football Club in 2003 and bankrolled the club’s most successful period. But after Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, he was sanctioned by the UK government as an associate of President Vladimir Putin and forced to sell the club.

近二十年来，罗曼·阿布拉莫维奇一直是英国最著名的俄罗斯寡头，他在伦敦备受欢迎，并于2003年收购了切尔西足球俱乐部，资助了该俱乐部最辉煌的时期。但在2022年俄罗斯全面入侵乌克兰后，他因被视为弗拉基米尔·普京总统的同伙而受到英国政府制裁，并被迫出售该俱乐部。

Abramovich has been reported to be living in Turkey, a safe haven for him because it did not apply sanctions. In the Channel Island of Jersey, £5.4bn of his assets remain frozen and a criminal investigation has been going on for four years.

据报道，阿布拉莫维奇目前居住在土耳其，由于该国未实施制裁，这里成了他的避风港。在海峡群岛的泽西岛，他价值54亿英镑的资产仍处于冻结状态，且一项刑事调查已持续了四年。

The oligarch’s lawyers told the BBC he denies the allegations in the Jersey investigation and says it was “undertaken for political purposes”.

这位寡头的律师告诉BBC，他否认泽西岛调查中的指控，并称该调查是“出于政治目的进行的”。

Our investigation has uncovered new evidence about the way Abramovich’s business empire has been run. It also raises serious questions about the integrity of some of his professional advisers.

我们的调查发现了关于阿布拉莫维奇商业帝国运作方式的新证据。这也引发了对其部分专业顾问诚信问题的严重质疑。

The evidence is contained in a leak that includes thousands of documents about the oligarch’s finances and the operations of a network of offshore companies administered from Cyprus - which used to be a tax haven popular with Russians - between 1995 and 2022.

这些证据包含在一份泄露的文件中，其中包括数千份关于该寡头财务状况的文件，以及1995年至2022年间由塞浦路斯管理的一系列离岸公司的运营情况——塞浦路斯曾是受俄罗斯人欢迎的避税天堂。

The BBC and media partners including the Guardian, Paper Trail Media, the Organised Crime and Corruption Reporting Project, and the Cyprus Investigative Reporting Network - as well as the Bureau of Investigative Journalism - have been reporting on the leaked files since 2023 as part of the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists’ Cyprus Confidential investigation.

自2023年起，BBC及其媒体合作伙伴（包括《卫报》、Paper Trail Media、有组织犯罪与腐败举报项目、塞浦路斯调查报道网络以及调查新闻局）一直在报道这些泄露的文件，作为国际调查记者联盟“塞浦路斯机密”（Cyprus Confidential）调查的一部分。

In 2022, Panorama also reported on how Abramovich had made his fortune from a corrupt deal to buy a Russian state-owned oil company in the 1990s, selling it back to the government a decade later for billions in profit. He has previously said allegations of corruption in the deal are false.

2022年，《全景》节目还报道了阿布拉莫维奇如何通过20世纪90年代收购一家俄罗斯国有石油公司的腐败交易发家，并在十年后将其卖回给政府，从而获利数十亿美元。他此前曾表示，有关该交易存在腐败的指控是不实的。

The profits from Abramovich’s oil deals in Russia were funnelled into a web of offshore companies. They were administered from Cyprus by a corporate services firm called MeritServus, in Limassol, the island’s second-largest city.

阿布拉莫维奇在俄罗斯石油交易中获得的利润被汇入了一个离岸公司网络。这些公司由位于该岛第二大城市利马索尔的一家名为MeritServus的企业服务公司在塞浦路斯进行管理。

Until 2005, Deloitte - now the biggest of the “big four” firms which dominate the accounting industry - owned MeritServus. After they split, the two companies worked closely together with Abramovich’s associates to manage his global fortune.

直到2005年，德勤（如今主导会计行业的“四大”会计师事务所中规模最大的一家）一直拥有MeritServus。在双方分道扬镳后，这两家公司仍与阿布拉莫维奇的合伙人密切合作，管理其全球财富。

The leaked documents from MeritServus reveal some of their practices.

从MeritServus泄露的文件揭示了他们的一些做法。

Our first example of backdated paperwork comes in 2006, after a new law in Cyprus meant that company accounts had to be made public. The new transparency law threatened to expose the secrets of Abramovich’s vast wealth.

我们发现的第一起倒签文件案例发生在2006年，当时塞浦路斯出台了一项新法律，要求公司账目必须公开。这项新的透明度法律威胁到了阿布拉莫维奇巨额财富的秘密。

Deloitte Cyprus had prepared draft accounts for 2003 - but had not yet finalised them - for his Cypriot company Amiscan Investments. The accounts detailed $672m of luxury property.

德勤塞浦路斯分公司曾为其旗下的塞浦路斯公司Amiscan Investments准备了2003年的账目草案，但尚未最终定稿。这些账目详细列出了价值6.72亿美元的豪华房产。

A mansion in West Sussex, a luxury flat in London and an estate in the south of France were all included - plus helicopters, private jets and a small fleet of boats the oligarch owned at the time, including the $147.5m Pelorus.

其中包括西萨塞克斯郡的一座豪宅、伦敦的一套豪华公寓和法国南部的一处庄园，此外还有直升机、私人飞机以及该寡头当时拥有的一小支船队，其中包括价值1.475亿美元的“佩洛鲁斯号”（Pelorus）。

To keep them secret, Abramovich’s associates and Meritservus decided to rewrite history. They drew up a plan to circumvent the transparency law by transferring the assets to Amiscan’s parent company in the British Virgin Islands (BVI), where they could be kept hidden. And they backdated the change by three years to make it look like the asset transfer had happened in 2003.

为了保守秘密，阿布拉莫维奇的合伙人和MeritServus决定改写历史。他们制定了一项计划，通过将资产转移到Amiscan在英属维尔京群岛（BVI）的母公司来规避透明度法律，从而将资产隐藏起来。他们还将这一变更倒签了三年，使其看起来像是资产转移发生在2003年。

Deloitte Cyprus reviewed the backdated documents and said they were “adequate” to allow them to remove the assets from Amiscan’s accounts.

德勤塞浦路斯分公司审查了这些倒签文件，并称其“足以”允许他们将这些资产从Amiscan的账目中移除。

When the 2003 accounts were signed off by Deloitte in 2006, the homes, planes and yachts disappeared at the stroke of a pen. Only $75,000 of assets remained.

当2003年的账目在2006年由德勤签署确认时，这些房产、飞机和游艇在笔尖一挥间便消失了。账面上仅剩下7.5万美元的资产。

Deloitte signed off the accounts even though the leaked documents show it knew they were completely misleading.

尽管泄露的文件显示德勤明知这些账目具有完全的误导性，但它还是签署了这些账目。

Lord Sikka, professor of accounting at the University of Sheffield, said it was a “violation of a statutory duty” and “pretty scandalous” to misrepresent transaction dates and not to publish true and fair accounts.

谢菲尔德大学会计学教授西卡勋爵（Lord Sikka）表示，歪曲交易日期且不公布真实、公正的账目是“违反法定职责”的行为，且“相当令人震惊”。

Panorama also found evidence that backdated documents had been used in a tax evasion scheme.

《全景》节目还发现了倒签文件被用于逃税计划的证据。

This involved another one of Abramovich’s Cypriot companies, Kravin Investments, which had almost $2bn in the bank in 2003.

这涉及阿布拉莫维奇的另一家塞浦路斯公司Kravin Investments，该公司在2003年银行存款近20亿美元。

It had been earning large amounts in interest, so Roman Abramovich’s company should have been paying tax on that interest to the Cypriot authorities.

该公司一直在赚取巨额利息，因此罗曼·阿布拉莫维奇的公司本应就这些利息向塞浦路斯当局纳税。

But his advisers had another idea to rewrite history.

但他的顾问们有另一个改写历史的主意。

An email from MeritServus in August 2005 to Abramovich’s Russian associates said a plan had been devised after a meeting with Deloitte. “If you agree, it will be necessary to change the financial statements and the accounting records accordingly for 2003 and 2004,” the email read.

2005年8月，MeritServus发给阿布拉莫维奇俄罗斯合伙人的一封电子邮件称，在与德勤会面后，一项计划已经制定。“如果您同意，则有必要相应地更改2003年和2004年的财务报表和会计记录，”邮件中写道。

MeritServus informed the oligarch’s Russian associates, that Kravin’s “Provisional Tax Assessments for 2005” would be filed

MeritServus通知该寡头的俄罗斯合伙人，Kravin的“2005年临时税收评估”将被提交。