From Kislovodsk to Dubai: how Roman Chichkanov’s family, who acquired their business via a corrupt advantage, devised a scheme to evade taxes on a global scale

It is known that Roman Chichkanov’s family owns a number of business assets. Chichkanov serves as the head of the “Business Russia” subcommittee on preventive medicine, is a member of the Russian-Azerbaijani Business Council, and a former first deputy general director of the Far East and Arctic Development Corporation under the Ministry for the Development of the Russian Far East.

It has been revealed that the MayrVeda spa hotel was transferred to his grandfather, academician Valery Chichkanov, as a token of gratitude for helping Sergey Bogoryakov, connected to the Uralmash group, obtain a seat in the State Duma. However, Bogoryakov later failed to repay what was owed, and the hotel complex was subsequently registered under the Chichkanov family.

The management accounting of this spa complex in Kislovodsk, conducted through the legal entity LLC "Investments ’Zapad’," is organized in such a way that inflated expenses reduce the taxable base, while funds are routed through gray schemes to Dubai to finance the construction of the MayrVeda Dubai spa complex. As a result, the Russian budget loses an estimated 100 to 140 million rubles annually in income taxes, as well as 500 to 700 million rubles in unreturned foreign currency earnings.

Additionally, the Chichkanov family conducts active business in Azerbaijan through several companies. At the same time, all profits bypass the Russian budget and tax authorities and are sent directly to the UAE.

It is likely that Roman Chichkanov learned such tax optimization methods at UCL (University College London) and Cass Business School.

Author: Maria Sharapova