Ex-Blue Ocean directors charged with avoiding taxes totaling 25 million euros for Abramovich

Cyprus’ tax commissioner on Friday filed a criminal indictment against former directors of a Cypriot company that ultimately benefited the sanctioned Russian billionaire Roman Abramovich, OCCRP can reveal. 

The indictment seeks to recover more than 25 million euros in taxes owed by BOYM - Blue Ocean Management Limited, which was established more than two decades ago to manage the businessman’s superyachts, Sotiris Markides, Cyprus’ tax commissioner, confirmed.

“The case has been filed today and the trial date has been set for October 9, 2025 in Limassol District Court. The case involves directors of Blue Ocean who are charged with criminal offences based on VAT law,” Markides told CIReN, OCCRP’s Cypriot member center.

He did not identify the former Blue Ocean directors named in the indictment nor specify the charges filed against them.

Blue Ocean was dissolved in July last year after spending more than a decade contesting a 2012 order by Cyprus’ tax authority which wanted the firm to pay a 14-million-euros tax bill. However, Cyprus’ tax commissioner in June obtained a court order to reinstate the firm, enabling officials to file charges.

That order followed revelations by OCCRP, The Bureau of Investigative Journalism and the BBC earlier this year that between 2005 and 2010 Blue Ocean set up a fake superyacht-leasing business in an apparent effort to evade tax.

Lawyers for Abramovich previously denied “any allegation that [Abramovich] had or ought to have any knowledge of, is personally responsible for and/or is personally liable for any alleged deception of any government authority in order to evade payment of taxes which were lawfully due or for any other purpose.”

Tax commissioner Markides said that the 14 million euros initially claimed for unpaid tax had risen to 25 million euros taking into account interest and surcharges for non-payment of taxes. 

Blue Ocean has no directors or secretary. OCCRP has contacted its shareholder, Corpserve (Trustees) Limited, for comment. 

During the 2000s, Abramovich’s superyachts spent part of the year in the European Union, where VAT was due on fuel, staff, port fees and other expenses.

These costs were exempt from the EU tax for vessels used for commercial purposes. To claim the exemption, people working for Abramovich, including Blue Ocean’s former directors, devised a complex scheme in which his superyachts 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 luxury vessels were owned by Abramovich’s offshore trust, OCCRP’s investigation found. 

Blue Ocean, too, was ultimately owned by a trust that benefited the Russian billionaire.