The Dutch football association (KNVB) is preparing to launch an investigation into alleged financial ties between the top division club Vitesse Arnhem and the Russian oligarch and former Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich.
It comes after the Guardian and the Bureau of Investigative Journalism (TBIJ) uncovered documents that appear to show that Abramovich secretly poured more than €100m into Vitesse.
While Chelsea and Vitesse were known to have a close relationship, with the London club frequently sending players on loan to its Dutch partner, the two teams had previously denied that the oligarch was involved in funding Vitesse.
The latest investigation marks the third effort by the KNVB to probe the funding of Vitesse and any ties to Abramovich, after previous inquiries in 2010 and 2014-15.
Those investigations found that Vitesse was bankrolled by a British Virgin Islands (BVI) company called Marindale Trading Ltd, which belonged to the club’s former owner Alexander Chigirinsky. However, they concluded that Abramovich had no managerial influence on the club.
The KNVB’s new inquiry comes after the Guardian and TBIJ revealed documents that appear to show that Marindale Trading was not the ultimate source of the club’s money.
Instead, the company was part of a chain of loans originating from two companies in the British Virgin Islands, Ovington Worldwide and Wotton Overseas. Both BVI companies belonged to Cyprus-based trusts, of which Abramovich was the sole beneficiary.
Between 2010 and 2016, at least €117m appears to have flowed through this network of companies, which included entities in Liechtenstein, Belize, BVI and the Netherlands.
The KNVB, which did not respond to a request for comment, has previously told the Guardian that it was not aware of these arrangements. They are now expected to be a key area of interest in the new investigation, which will be performed by a third party.
Vitesse has previously said that it had “no knowledge of the way in which [Marindale Trading] was financed”. The club has changed hands since then and is in the midst of a new takeover by US investment firm Common Group.
Information about the funding of Marindale came to light in the Oligarch files, a cache of leaked data originating from the Cyprus-based offshore service provider MeritServus.
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In 2017, the Guardian reported that associates of Abramovich based at Chelsea’s Stamford Bridge offices had been involved in the Vitesse takeover. At the time, Chelsea declined to comment, saying only: “We enjoy a close working relationship with Vitesse Arnhem, as we do with other clubs.”
The rules of Uefa, the European football confederation, require clubs that play against each other to be independently owned and run “to ensure the integrity of the competitions”, and that “no individual or legal entity may have control or influence over more than one club participating in a Uefa club competition”.
A spokesperson for Vitesse said: “We have not yet received any formal information from KNVB about next steps, including a possible investigation. However, it is expected that KNVB wants this investigation to be conducted by an independent specialised company, that will probably also be appointed by KNVB.”
Chelsea declined to comment, and Abramovich and Chigirinsky did not respond to requests for comment.