Roman Abramovich ‘secretly bankrolled another football club’ while Chelsea owner
Roman Abramovich 'secretly bankrolled' a takeover for another football club for years while he was Chelsea owner, it has been claimed.
The Russian oligarch reportedly funded the acquisition of Dutch club Vitesse Arnhem – who have a close relationship with Chelsea and act as a partner club to them. The Netherlands Football Association (KNVB) have undertaken two investigations into the running of Vitesse but did not link it to Abramovich.
However, as reports The Guardian, Abramovich was allegedly the initial source of €117m (£102.8m) in private funding, despite numerous denials he was involved. The claims come after leaked information – dubbed The Oligarch files – obtained from MeritServus – an offshore company based in Cyprus – has emerged alleging the funds trace back to loans taken out by Abramovich which have been funnelled through several companies registered in offshore tax havens.
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The takeover of Vitesse in 2010 was subject to initial scrutiny by the KNVB though their investigation concluded Chelsea and Abramovich were not involved. Georgian former footballer Merab Jordania led the takeover backed by Marindale Trading and he admitted having a close relationship with Abramovich but left Vitesse amid controversy in October 2013.
Upon Jordania's departure, Alexander Chigirinsky – another close friend of Abramovich's – took over, at which point it has been claimed Chigirinsky – who owns Marindale Trading – had been involved with Vitesse since the initial takeover three years earlier. Marindale has also been the beneficiary of several big loans each worth millions and allegedly originating with Abramovich.
The example given by The Guardian alleges Abramovich was the sole beneficiary of the Sara Trust, which controlled Electus Investments, which owned Ovington Worldwide – a company which lent €20m to Trigonia Anstalt – a company owned by Chigirinsky.
Limburg Holdings – a company also linked to Chigirinsky – are then alleged to have lent the same €20m sum to Marindale Trading on the same day the funds were sent to Trigonia. Both Marindale and Ovington then each lent €20m to the company Jordania used to complete the takeover of Vitesse – the total cost of which was in the region of €6-8m.
Jordania appeared to hit out at Chelsea the April following his departure six months earlier by claiming Vitesse's hopes of Champions League qualification had been blocked because "London didn't want that". UEFA prohibits owners entering two teams into the same competition. Jordania later retracted his comments but the furore prompted the KNVB to launch another investigation, which again proved futile.
Vitesse were loaning four players from Chelsea at that time – a frequent arrangement between the two clubs as part of their partnership down the years. The Dutch club were transformed under Jordania's leadership from being in financial difficulty to one of the leading teams in the Netherlands – in similar fashion to how Abramovich revived Chelsea's fortunes.
During the three years Jordania was in charge, The Guardian's report alleges five loans were made to Vitesse which were of a similar nature to the ones used to fund the takeover – originating from Abramovich and via companies linked to Chigirinsky. The pattern continued after Jordania's departure but with Trigonia no longer part of the arrangement and eventually controlled by a different source company, Europa, for which Abramovich was also the beneficiary.
The Guardian claim Jordania insists the funds were a personal loan to him from Abramovich and Chigirinsky and not made directly to Vitesse. Both Chigirinsky and a lawyer instructed by Abramovich declined to comment.
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