September 26 – Chelsea’s Russian billionaire owner Roman Abramovich has been denied Swiss residency because police believed he could be a threat to public security, according to explosive previously confidential information.
Reports emanating from Switzerland and picked up across the globe say Swiss federal police advised officials to reject his application to establish tax residency in the ski resort of Verbier over suspicions he might be involved in money laundering or have contact with criminal organisations.
The reports say Abramovich applied for the residence permit in July 2016.
Controversially, the allegations are not based on any court ruling, rather on unverified police suspicions and Abramovich’s lawyer, Daniel Glasl, said he plans to file a criminal complaint against whoever disseminated the information.
“Any suggestion that Mr Abramovich has been involved in money laundering or has contacts with criminal organisations is entirely false,” said a statement. “Mr Abramovich has never been charged with participating in money laundering and does not have a criminal record. He has never had, or been alleged to have, connections with criminal organisations.”
“Mr Abramovich has submitted to numerous, thorough background checks by governments and business partners over the years and such unsubstantiated allegations have never been an issue.”
Earlier this year Abramovich became an Israeli citizen a month after UK authorities delayed renewing his visa. The Chelsea owner, who is Jewish, exercised his right under Israel’s Law of Return, which states that Jews from anywhere in the world can become citizens of Israel. He had been travelling in and out of the UK for years on a Tier-1 visa designed for foreigners who invest at least £2 million in Britain.
He applied to renew the visa in April but did not immediately receive approval amid heightened diplomatic tension between London and Moscow following the poisoning of Sergei Skripal and his daughter in March. Israeli passport holders can travel to Britain without a visa for short periods of time, and can stay as long as six months.
Revelations of the latest Swiss move apparently followed a seven-month legal battle with Zurich publisher Tamedia, which owns a string of major newspapers in Switzerland’s French- and German-speaking regions. The group had apparently obtained details of a letter written by police which raised a number of concerns.
Abramovich at first secured an injunction but this was overturned in a legal process which ended last Friday when the Swiss federal supreme court rejected his appeal.
According to Tamedia, police alleged that Abramovich was subject to “suspicion of money laundering and presumed contacts with criminal organisations”. They also asserted that there was reason to believe that “the applicant’s assets are at least partially of illegal origin”.
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