Abramovich investigated by Jersey over corruption and money-laundering claims

The former Chelsea football club owner Roman Abramovich is the subject of a criminal investigation by the Jersey authorities over allegations of corruption and money laundering in connection with the original source of his billions, according to court documents.

- Juliette Garside Rob Davies

The information has emerged from the federal criminal court in Switzerland, where judges ordered the release of documents, relating to Swiss bank accounts, that had been requested by the Jersey attorney general.

The Channel Island's authorities have been battling companies suspected of being connected to the Russian oligarch in the Swiss courts as part of their investigation into his vast wealth. The crown dependency - through which Abramovich pumped some of his cash into the west - froze more than $7bn (£5.2bn) of assets suspected of being linked to him soon after Russia's invasion of Ukraine in 2022.

According to the Swiss rulings, Jersey investigators are looking into the very origins of the oligarch's wealth, acquired during the chaotic, free-wheeling rise of capitalism in Russia in the 1990s and 2000s.

Abramovich, through his lawyers, denied the allegations and said any suggestion he was involved in criminal activity was false.

Lawyers for the companies had been seeking to block the release of documents relating to Swiss bank accounts they held. Their appeal was rejected in May, with Swiss judges saying Jersey had presented enough evidence to justify handing over the documents.

Copies of the judgments set out how Jersey made its request to Switzerland in connection with two distinct matters.

The first concerned suspected money laundering in connection to the proceeds of the sale by Abramovich of his oil and gas company Sibneft, which the Russian government acquired for $13bn in 2005. The rulings state Abramovich "is alleged to have made corruption payments in the 1990s" while he was building Sibneft into a major fossil fuels group.