MOSCOW, 30 Mar – Dutch football club Vitesse issued a statement on its official website denying any knowledge of indirect financing between 2010 and 2016 by companies owned by Russian businessman Roman Abramovich.

Earlier, the Guardian newspaper, citing leaked financial reports of a Cypriot investment company, reported that Abramovich gave Vitesse at least 117 million euros at the end of 2015 through offshore organizations. The club’s total turnover in the 2014/15 season was 14 million euros. During this period, Vitesse was a partner club of Chelsea, who loaned players to the Dutch team.

Vitesse also notes that earlier the Royal Netherlands Football Union, following two investigations, could not identify any financial irregularities on the part of the club.

Abramovich has been the owner of English Chelsea since the summer of 2003. In early March 2022, a Russian businessman announced that he had put the club up for sale due to sanctions due to the events in Ukraine. The deal to transfer Chelsea from Abramovich’s ownership to a consortium of American Todd Boely officially closed at the end of May. Under Abramovich, the London club became the champion of England five times, won the FA Cup five times and won the English League Cup three times, also won the Champions League and the Europa League twice each.