A court order last Friday re-registered the company Blue Ocean Yacht Management Ltd, owned by Russian oligarch Roman Abramovich, in the Cyprus Companies Registry, which, while owing tax debts to the Cypriot state, had been written off last year. There are suspicions of a procedural trick by Abramovich to avoid paying tax.

As the Cyprus News Agency was told by Tax Inspector Sotiris Markides, the Tax Department is preparing to proceed with criminal prosecutions against those responsible for recovering the debts.

It is recalled that the amount amounts to about €14 million, and with interest it reaches €25 million. The company was incorporated on 11/11/2002, under the name Blue Ocean Yacht Management Ltd, and on 27/7/2011, it changed its name to BOYM- Blue Ocean Yacht Management Ltd.

According to the Registrar of Companies, Irene Mylonas Chrysostomou, on 26/8/2022, her Office proceeded with the first quarterly publication of intention to de-register the company in the Gazette by the Registrar of Companies Office, as the company was non-compliant with the relevant legislation as it remained without directors. At that time, the Department of Taxation filed an objection on 21/10/2022 to prevent the company from being closed down.

On 9/15/2023, there was a second quarterly notice of intention to de-register, and again, there was an objection from the Department of Taxation on 11/27/2023. However, on 7/17/202,4 the Department of Taxation withdrew the objection, resulting in the company being deregistered on 7/19/2024, with final publication in the Gazette.

However, when the matter came up for discussion in the Cyprus Parliament, the Department of Taxation, as a creditor, filed a request for a court order for the re-registration of the company. The relevant order was made on 16/6/2025 and submitted to the Registrar of Companies’ Office last Friday, 20/6/2025, and the company was re-registered, and it is understood that it was never deregistered.

Mrs Chrysostomou told the Cyprus News Agency that she had indicated, during the debate in the Parliamentary Audit Committee, that once objections to the deregistration of non-compliant companies are withdrawn, the Registrar of Companies’ computer system proceeds to deregister them. She said she had told the Committee that the company can be re-registered by a court order, especially since there are debts to the state.

She noted that under the law, a company that is removed from the registry and re-registered by court order “is as if it had never been removed. That is, the company is revived,” with all its liabilities.

As Ms Chrysostomou said, in this case, the company has been re-registered but remains without directors. She explained that the reason for delisting the company in the first place was that its directors had resigned and the company was without officers, rendering it non-compliant with the Companies Act.

It also pointed out that if this company did not comply, i.e., if no directors were appointed, it would still be non-compliant. He noted, however, that in this case, “we will ensure that this company will not proceed to deregistration if the pending procedures are not completed.”

For his part, the Tax Commissioner, Sotiris Markides, said the Tax Department will “under the law, go after the directors that the law gives us the right to go after for a criminal offence because they did not ensure that the relevant VAT was paid.”

He clarified that the criminal prosecutions would be against the declared directors at the time the debt was created, i.e., in 2012 and before.

“We have reinstated the company, and those we are legally entitled to take to court for criminal offences, we will do so. Our lawyers are working on it. We will not make an exception for anyone,” he said. Asked when prosecutions are expected, he said the issue is procedural and expressed hope that the process will move forward before the summer court vacations.