REPRESENTATIVES of Russian tycoon Roman Abramovich categorically denied any links with the north of Cyprus yesterday, saying they would be looking at possible legal action over a report the Chelsea football club owner was behind a property development near Kyrenia.
“This is totally false,” said John Mann, a representative of Millhouse LCC, the public relations company managing assets on behalf of Abramovich and his partners. “We don’t know how it got started and we want it stopped,” he told the Cyprus Mail.
Mann said the village in the north was named Chelsey and not Chelsea, but he said they had no idea who was behind the project. “We are looking into it now, and obviously exploring out legal options,” he added.
A search on the internet showed that a company called Yigor Properties was behind the development. The company has offices in the north, in London and in Moscow.
“Yigor Property Developments Ltd is a dynamic and fast-growing property company in North Cyprus,” the company says on its website. “We are working in close partnership with the construction industry of North Cyprus to develop Chelsey Village, which is our current project and is the key part of a major project of World-Class investors.”
Chelsey Village is described as “a haven of exclusive villas and chic apartments for holidaymakers and investors alike”.
It is located on a raised plateau near Kyrenia “just a five-minute drive away to the west and the closest beaches of Acapulco, Alagadi Turtle Beach, Lara Beach and the modern Vogue Beach which is a five-minute drive away to the east.”
The story of Abramovich’s alleged involvement in the $30-million project was first published in the Turkish press and picked up by Russian news agency RIA Novosti.
In a statement to the Turkish Daily News, Mann said: “Neither Mr. Abramovich, nor Millhouse LLC has any real estate projects in Turkey.
Furthermore, no such projects are planned at present.”
As Abramovich’s representatives, Mann said his PR company frequently battled inaccurate stories, which in most cases “serve no other purpose than to provide free publicity for projects, companies or properties associated with the sources of this information”.
“Not only do we not have projects in northern Cyprus, we don’t have any projects in Turkey either,” Mann told the Cyprus Mail. “We have no idea how these rumours got started but we will explore our legal options to stop whoever it is from doing it.”
According to a 2001 article in the English-language Cyprus Times, a newspaper published in the north, Yigor Properties is owned by a Russian named Rustem Suleyman who lives in the north.
According to the paper, Suleyman became successful in post-perestroika Russia and first visited the north in 1993, buying a summer holiday villa.
He first opened a Green Garden and Pet Centre and then, after various friends from Russia asked him about buying houses in the north, he launched Yigor Property Developments Ltd.
