£2.5bn from Chelsea sale ‘still not handed to Ukraine war victims three years on’

Roman Abramovich was forced to sell Chelsea after being placed under sanction - (Copyright 2021 The Associated Press. All rights reserved)

The £2.5 billion generated from the sale of Chelsea Football Club is “still locked up” three years on despite it being committed to humanitarian aid in Ukraine, a legal adviser has said.

Roman Abramovich announced the sale of Chelsea in March 2022 amid calls for him to sanctioned following Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

The sanctions came days later and the sale was completed in May later that year and Mr Abramovich pledged to divert all proceeds to a foundation to benefit victims of the war.

However, the funds remain unavailable, raising questions about the delay and the complexities of transferring such a substantial sum under the current geopolitical circumstances.

The deal, at the time, was one of the most complex in the history of sport.

At the time, a spokesperson for Abramovich said that an independently-managed foundation was being set up to oversee the proceeds of sale.

Lyra Nightingale, a legal adviser at Redress, an organisation helping deliver justice and reparations for survivors of torture and challenging impunity for perpetrators, said the funds remained unused and there had been “no clear reason from the Government as to why that is so”.

Three years after Roman Abramovich’s forced sale of Chelsea Football Club, the £2.5 billion generated remains inaccessible for its intended purpose (John Walton/PA Wire)

Speaking to BBC Radio 4’s Today programme, Ms Nightingale said: “Around three years ago now, Abramovich … was being subject to these Russian sanctions … and he was granted a licence to sell Chelsea Football Club.

“The proceeds of that were to go for the benefit of Ukraine.

“(But) three years later we’re still waiting.

“And there is no clear reason from the Government as to why that is so. (It’s) still locked up. That money has been expressly committed to humanitarian purposes in Ukraine.

“We don’t know why it’s stuck. There’s a real lack of transparency and over three years of campaigning for that money to go where the Government said it would go, that has still not happened.”

The House of Lords European Affairs Committee has previously reported the cash was frozen in a UK bank account amid “disagreement” about where it should be spent.

The Home Office has been contacted for comment.