A company linked to Russian billionaire Roman Abramovich has been brought back onto the Cyprus companies register, allowing for possible indictments to recover nearly €25 million owed to the state in taxes and interest.

The company, Blue Ocean Yacht Management (BOYM), had been struck from the official registrar records in July last year. But on June 20, it was reinstated by court order after the tax department stepped in to recover the unpaid debt.

Tax commissioner Sotiris Markides told the Cyprus News Agency that criminal charges are being prepared against the company’s directors from the time the debt was created, mainly those listed in 2012 and earlier. He said the department would take legal action “without exception”.

The company was first registered in November 2002. In July 2011, it changed its name to include the abbreviation BOYM. It had no directors from 2022 onwards and was considered non-compliant with company rules.

In August 2022, the registrar of companies began the process to strike off the firm. The tax department initially objected, but later dropped its objection in July 2024. That allowed the company to be removed from the register.

After questions were raised in parliament, the tax department applied to the courts to bring the company back, so that legal steps could be taken. A judge approved the request on June 16, and the company was officially reinstated last Friday.

Registrar of companies Irene Chrysostomou explained that under the law, when a company is reinstated by court order, it is treated as if it were never deleted.

However, the company still has no directors, meaning it’s in breach of registrar regulations.

However, despite it being non-compliant in this way, “we shall take steps to ensure it is not deleted [again] even if continues to remain in breach”.

The registrar said authorities such as banks, the social insurance office and the tax department would be informed again so they can decide whether to oppose any future deletion.

She added that the company won’t be removed again until the legal process is completed.

For his part, Markides confirmed the case is now in the hands of legal experts, who are working to identify which former directors can be taken to court for failing to pay VAT. He said the aim is to move quickly, possibly before the courts close for the summer break.

Cyprus’ trust laws in the early 2000s allowed Abramovich to set up a maze of interlinked companies, but appearing independent on paper, taking advantage of a VAT exemption relating to the leasing of yachts.

Although tax authorities here eventually caught on, and the courts ordered the company to pay its tax dues, Blue Ocean dissolved, and the debt never got settled.

According to the Organised Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP), people working for Abramovich had designed a corporate structure to give the false impression that the billionaire’s yachts were being commercially chartered to third parties, and therefore eligible for tax breaks.

To claim the exemption, people working for Abramovich devised a scheme in which the pleasure craft were leased to what looked like independent customers paying to go on a cruise for a week or two.

“In reality, the companies hiring the superyachts were owned by an offshore trust whose beneficial owner was Abramovich,” the OCCRP reported.