A victory against Tottenham (1-4), a draw against Manchester City after a crazy match (4-4)… After complicated months, and a past season, Chelsea found a little happiness on the field these last two weeks. But, in the offices, the London club is suspected of having circumvented financial fair play, at the time when Roman Abramovitch was owner of the Blues.
The “Cyprus Confidential” investigation, carried out by several media, including The Guardian And The world, makes it possible to highlight hidden financing, via offshore companies, to several personalities working around the oligarch and Chelsea. This includes the signing of Eden Hazard. To unlock the transfer of the Chelsea player, and satisfy the request of his agent John Bico-Penaque, a payment of 7 million euros would have been made by Leiston Holdings, based in the British Virgin Islands and owned by Abramovitch, to a company based to Dubai. The contract was signed on behalf of the company by Bico-Penaque.
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Another suspicious payment analyzed by “Cyprus Confidential”, Leiston Holdings paid 1 million pounds (1.15 million euros, today) to the Association of Young Hopes of Bobo, in Burkina Faso, the former club of Bertrand Traoré, arrived at Chelsea in January 2014, via a contract signed by Traoré’s brother, David.
A business that is rolling, since 7 million euros were allegedly paid between 2005 and 2017 to companies linked to Vladica Lemic. The latter, agent in particular of Luka Modric, was, in 2018, accused of tax fraud, using his brother’s company to pay less taxes. Previously, with an advisory role to Abramovich, he would have had an important role in the recruitment of Arjen Robben, Branislav Ivanovic, Nemanja Matic and even Carlo Ancelotti.
A record sale
Contacted by The Guardian, the London club defends itself: “These allegations predate the current ownership of the club. They are based on documents which have not been presented to the club and do not relate to anyone currently at the club. »
After Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, Roman Abramovich was forced to sell the club before sanctions were taken against him and the club by the British government. The oligarch had managed to sell “his” club for 4.25 billion pounds (4.97 billion euros), the largest sum for a sports club, to a group led by Todd Boehly. Abramovicth bought Chelsea for 140 million pounds (160.7 million euros) in 2012.