Cypriot MPs Assail Officials For Failure to Collect on €14M Tax Bill From Roman Abramovich Firm

Cypriot authorities faced questions from lawmakers this week for failing to collect 14 million euros in unpaid value-added tax from Blue Ocean, a shuttered company that was ultimately owned by sanctioned Russian billionaire Roman Abramovich.

Officials from the Tax Department and Registrar of Companies told Parliament on Thursday that legal and procedural barriers prevented them from acting before the Cyprus-registered firm was struck off the registry in July 2024.

The company had spent more than a decade contesting in court a VAT assessment related to a luxury yacht leasing scheme allegedly designed to avoid taxes — a tactic first revealed in a joint investigation published in January by OCCRP, The Bureau of Investigative Journalism, BBC, and OCCRP's Cypriot member center, CIReN.

In March, the Cypriot Supreme Court ruled that Blue Ocean was liable for the full amount, but by then the company had no directors or legal representatives, and was dissolved and the debt was never collected. 

“The law is clear. I may not agree with it, but we couldn’t take enforcement action until court proceedings were over,” Tax Commissioner Sotiris Markides said in Parliament.

“As a matter of fact, due to the absence of a legal entity and active representatives, it is not possible to recover the said debt — not even through a company revival process,” he added.

Lawmakers from across the political spectrum expressed outrage at the explanation. Some questioned whether the government had adequately investigated the role of Abramovich, who has been under European Union sanctions since 2023.

Opposition MP Alexandra Attalides, who brought the issue to Parliament, joined others in pressing officials on whether the Russian billionaire’s business activities in Cyprus were ever officially scrutinized. 

Markides told MPs that Abramovich’s name appeared in the company’s case file based on documents sent to his office by the E.U. and the Cyprus Foreign Ministry in 2012, when the VAT investigation began, but that he was not listed as the company’s owner.

Officials from Cyprus’ Financial Intelligence Unit and Registrar of Companies told the session of Parliament’s Standing Committee on Development Plans and Public Expenditure Control on Thursday that Abramovich’s connection with Blue Ocean was never formally investigated.

Cyprus Corporate Registrar Irini Mylona confirmed that one of the trustees mentioned in the OCCRP investigation — Neptune Trust — had no natural person listed as a director, as required by law.

She added that the company had lacked a director since March 2022 and a secretary since July 2023. It was therefore deleted from the registry in July 2024. She confirmed that the Tax Department initially objected to the company’s removal, but later withdrew that objection, triggering the deletion.

Committee Chair Zacharias Koulias urged authorities to submit written clarifications on whether Abramovich had any role in the company’s operations.

Markides called for urgent legislative reform, saying the case exposed major loopholes in company law.

“One Blue Ocean director was listed in 540 other companies. Another was tied to nearly 300,” he said. “We need changes to prevent companies from hiding behind legal gaps and faceless structures.”

A representative from the Legal Service said delays in the 12-year legal process were due in part to the country’s judicial reform. Once that process concluded, the Supreme Court resolved the case in just eight months — by which point the directors of Blue Ocean had effectively vanished from the registry.