THE Law Officers’ Department has said it is “unable to comment on live investigations” following reports of Jersey inquiries into Russian oligarch Roman Abramovich’s financial affairs.
The department made the comments after the Guardian reported that Jersey authorities have been examining Swiss banking records, as part of efforts to investigate alleged money-laundering linked to proceeds of the billionaire’s historic sale of stakes in Russian oil company Sibneft – as well as asset transfers relating to suspected sanctions breaches following the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
Lawyers for Mr Abramovich have denied the allegations, reportedly telling the Guardian that no charges had been brought against their client and that “the Jersey court has in fact confirmed that there are no criminal proceedings against our client pending before the Jersey courts”.
It is not the first time that the Island has been subject to headlines involving Mr Abramovich.
In 2023, the States police were ordered to pay tens of thousands of pounds in legal fees to lawyers representing parties with alleged links to the oligarch, after it emerged that search warrants – used by police officers seconded to the Economic Crime and Confiscation Unit to raid two properties in April 2022 – were obtained unlawfully.
The raids preceded a freeze of more than $7bn-worth of assets suspected to be connected to Mr Abramovich, through a Royal Court order known as a ‘saisie judiciaire’.
And in 2018 this newspaper broke the news that the Russian businessman was given housing qualifications to live here, although he did not eventually relocate to the Island.
The recent Guardian article described the Island as “one of the tax havens from which Abramovich managed his fortune, using a network of offshore companies and trusts”.
