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[00:00:09] people. For the latest, follow us us on the President's. Path here
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[00:00:45] MUSIC These These are the latest headlines from from BBC News. Ukrainian President
[00:00:49] President Volodymyr Zelensky says says Washington has to make Russia
[00:00:52] Russia respect the energy ceasefire ceasefire announced by Donald Trump
[00:00:56] Trump after Russian strikes hit Ukrainian Ukrainian infrastructure overnight.
[00:00:59] overnight. Saudi officials say one one person has been killed and nearly
[00:01:02] nearly a dozen others injured in in the latest attack on Riyadh's
[00:01:06] Riyadh's international airport by by the Iran-backed Houthi group in
[00:01:08] in Yemen. The strike came a day after after 13 people were killed and several
[00:01:12] several hundred others were wounded wounded when the same airport was
[00:01:15] was targeted. Actor and comedian comedian Russell Brand has arrived
[00:01:19] arrived at London's Southwark Crown Crown Court ahead of the start of
[00:01:22] of his trial on seven charges of
[00:01:24] of rape and sexual assault relating
[00:01:26] relating to six women. A BBC investigation
[00:01:29] investigation has revealed that the the world's biggest accountancy firm
[00:01:32] firm helped falsify documents that that allowed the former Chelsea Football
[00:01:35] Football Club owner Roman Abramovich Abramovich to hide his wealth and
[00:01:39] and evade tax. Hello, I'm Geeta Guru-Murthy.
[00:01:49] Guru-Murthy. Let us get more on Russell Russell Brand, the actor and comedian
[00:01:53] comedian who has arrived now at London's London's Southwark Crown Court ahead
[00:01:57] ahead of the start of his trial on
[00:01:59] on seven charges of rape and sexual
[00:02:02] sexual assault relating to six women.
[00:02:05] women. 51-year-old brand, once one one of Britain's most high profile
[00:02:08] profile broadcasters, has pleaded pleaded not guilty to all seven charges
[00:02:11] charges three counts of rape and
[00:02:13] and four counts of indecent or sexual
[00:02:16] sexual assault allegedly committed
[00:02:19] committed between 1999 and 2009. 2009. Let's speak to our correspondent correspondent Helena Wilkinson, who's
[00:02:23] who's outside Southwark Crown Court Court in London for us. Helena, just
[00:02:27] just tell us what we're expecting
[00:02:29] expecting to see today. Well, Russell
[00:02:32] Russell Brand arrived here at Southwark
[00:02:33] Southwark Crown Court in London at at just after 8:30 this morning.
[00:02:38] morning. We can show you some pictures pictures of him arriving here. He
[00:02:41] He was wearing sunglasses, dressed
[00:02:43] dressed in a suit. He was accompanied
[00:02:46] accompanied by his wife Laura. It
[00:02:48] It is the first day of his trial trial here at Southwark Crown Court
[00:02:52] Court and as you would expect, there
[00:02:54] there was a huge media presence. presence. Photographers and journalists
[00:02:57] journalists waiting for him to arrive
[00:03:00] arrive here at court. As I say, the
[00:03:02] the first day of his trial, the 51-year-old
[00:03:06] 51-year-old comedian and actor is
[00:03:08] is facing several charges of rape rape and sexual assault against six
[00:03:12] six women. There are six female complainants
[00:03:15] complainants now. The allegations.
[00:03:17] allegations. It's alleged that they
[00:03:19] they stem or occurred between 1999
[00:03:24] 1999 and 2009. As I say, six female
[00:03:27] female complainants. Russell Brand
[00:03:28] Brand has pleaded not guilty to all
[00:03:31] all of those charges during pre-trial pre-trial hearings. The trial is
[00:03:35] is expected to last for about ten
[00:03:37] ten weeks and we are expecting at
[00:03:39] at some stage today here at Southwark
[00:03:41] Southwark Crown Court for the jury
[00:03:44] jury to be selected in this trial. trial. Let me just bring you a bit
[00:03:47] bit more detail about those charges charges that Russell Brand is facing.
[00:03:51] facing. He faces three counts of
[00:03:54] of rape, three charges of sexual
[00:03:56] sexual assault and one allegation allegation of indecent assault. As
[00:04:00] As I say, he denies all the charges. charges. Helena Wilkinson. Many thanks.
[00:04:04] thanks. And you can follow the trial trial day by day on the BBC podcast
[00:04:07] podcast Fame Under Fire Russell Brand Brand on trial available on BBC Sounds
[00:04:11] Sounds YouTube iPlayer or wherever
[00:04:12] wherever you get your BBC podcasts.
[00:04:15] podcasts. Two. Artificial intelligence intelligence now as the President
[00:04:19] President of Microsoft says that that work on AI regulation needs
[00:04:22] needs to start immediately. Speaking Speaking to my colleague Will Bayne
[00:04:25] Bayne for the BBC's Big Boss interview, interview, he said that the current
[00:04:28] current system of self-regulation self-regulation wasn't working. When
[00:04:31] When you look at AI agents that have
[00:04:35] have escaped human control, when when you look at models that are
[00:04:38] are so powerful that they're putting putting the world's cybersecurity
[00:04:41] cybersecurity at risk. I would say, say, look, the moment has arrived.
[00:04:45] arrived. Let's speak calmly, maybe
[00:04:48] maybe even softly but firmly, and and start to bring people together.
[00:04:52] together. I hope that's the role role we can play as a company. I
[00:04:54] I hope that's the role the UK can can play as a country. So there was
[00:04:58] was this accord that came out of of the White House, wasn't you were
[00:05:01] were notably not one of the signatories signatories as a company of that,
[00:05:05] that, but that was all about and and I'm quoting the President again again here, tremendous self-regulation.
[00:05:08] self-regulation. It sounds like from from what you're saying to me, without without putting words in your mouth,
[00:05:11] mouth, you don't think self-regulation self-regulation actually goes far far enough. There should be one body
[00:05:15] body somewhere that people are compelled. compelled. Forced. What is it legally
[00:05:18] legally forced to put their models models through to test? I would say
[00:05:21] say two things. First, I applaud, applaud, I applaud, we applaud as
[00:05:24] as a company that statement and we're
[00:05:27] we're happy to sign it. It's a good good step. It's a necessary step.
[00:05:31] step. And fundamentally what it does does is it says companies should
[00:05:34] should have internal controls. It It should have internal auditors
[00:05:37] auditors looking at things like AI AI safety. We've been doing that
[00:05:40] that since almost a decade ago, and
[00:05:42] and there ought to be some external external evaluators as well, all
[00:05:45] all to the good. It's necessary.
[00:05:48] necessary. I don't think it's sufficient
[00:05:50] sufficient any longer because the
[00:05:53] the challenge for any self-regulatory self-regulatory regime is if it's
[00:05:57] it's left to the industry alone, alone, frankly, the good companies
[00:06:00] companies will do what you want. want. It's the companies that are
[00:06:03] are not as responsible that you need need to worry about. We should always
[00:06:07] always worry that regulation can
[00:06:08] can become too heavy-handed. It can
[00:06:12] can slow innovation. And I think think President Trump is right to
[00:06:15] to remind us to think about even even worry about those concerns.
[00:06:19] concerns. But right now I'd argue
[00:06:22] argue that AI is moving forward faster
[00:06:24] faster than the speed of safety.
[00:06:27] safety. That's not good for the protection protection of the public. It's not
[00:06:30] not even good for the industry itself.
[00:06:32] itself. And usually what happens happens and you take I'll just say,
[00:06:35] say, our Congress in the United States, States, if a product moves faster
[00:06:39] faster than the speed of safety accidents
[00:06:43] accidents happen and then Congress Congress moves faster than the speed speed of thought, and then you just
[00:06:47] just end up with a dynamic where where everything comes to a halt.
[00:06:50] halt. I don't think that should be
[00:06:52] be our goal either. AI is an extraordinary
[00:06:55] extraordinary resource to grow the the economy, to solve societal problems,
[00:06:58] problems, or at least help. Let's Let's strike the right balance. President
[00:07:02] President of Microsoft there speaking speaking to Will Bain. Let's speak
[00:07:06] speak to Harry Stebbings, venture venture capitalist and founder of
[00:07:08] of 20 VC. Thanks for being with US,
[00:07:10] US, Harry. More regulation. We're
[00:07:13] We're expecting a speech from the the AI minister, Kanishka Narayan
[00:07:16] Narayan here in the UK within the
[00:07:17] the next half an hour, talking about
[00:07:20] about how to look at cyber security.
[00:07:23] security. Is it not time now for
[00:07:25] for the UK government and for the the global community to regulate
[00:07:28] regulate this technology? No it's
[00:07:33] it's a wonderfully idealistic position position to take, but we're not in
[00:07:36] in a race against the US or against against other European countries.
[00:07:39] countries. We're in a race against against some very powerful actors
[00:07:41] actors in China and in other countries countries who are creating open source
[00:07:45] source models that are incredibly incredibly sophisticated, which might
[00:07:49] might be distilled by our from our
[00:07:51] our models but are incredibly sophisticated sophisticated and they are out in
[00:07:54] in the open and they will continue continue to get stronger and stronger.
[00:07:57] stronger. And so yes, if we operate
[00:07:59] operate in this wonderfully utopian utopian Western world, then sure,
[00:08:03] sure, that'd be great. We could control control the party, so to speak. But
[00:08:07] But when we can't, if we place more more and more regulation by nature
[00:08:10] nature you will slow the ecosystem
[00:08:12] ecosystem down and they are reducing reducing regulation and speeding
[00:08:15] speeding up. And so they will get get further and further ahead and
[00:08:18] and we will get further and further further behind. And so it's a nice
[00:08:22] nice idea, but in reality, it's not
[00:08:25] not hugely effective or functional. functional. But is there not a possibility
[00:08:28] possibility of the US and China agreeing agreeing to mutual regulation? The
[00:08:32] The Chinese have done a lot of work
[00:08:33] work on that front, haven't they?
[00:08:37] they? I think I couldn't comment comment on XI Jinping's policy towards
[00:08:40] towards AI, but I think that would would be very unlikely. I think he's
[00:08:42] he's very aware that they have incredible incredible capabilities both at the
[00:08:45] the model and the hardware layer layer and now developing them at
[00:08:48] at the chip layer. I don't think
[00:08:50] think that he would willingly co-sign
[00:08:53] co-sign and be aligned in terms of of regulating the speed that they
[00:08:56] they have. But what we're seeing
[00:08:58] seeing calls from within the AI industry, industry, allegedly for more regulation.
[00:09:02] regulation. And some people are totally totally puzzled, aren't they? Because Because it is these big tech companies
[00:09:05] companies that are pushing out the the models in the first place. You
[00:09:09] You know, even the UK Security Institute,
[00:09:13] Institute, which does get sight of of some of these models, doesn't doesn't see all of them. And it's
[00:09:16] it's not mandatory that they can can block anything being released.
[00:09:19] released. Doesn't that need to change change given, for example, the Hugging
[00:09:23] Hugging Face saga that we saw this this summer? Yeah, absolutely. So
[00:09:25] So I think we need to separate the the supply of intelligence from the
[00:09:29] the authority over it. The idea that that these labs can self-regulate
[00:09:33] self-regulate and we have alignment alignment teams within each of them, them, alignment teams within some
[00:09:36] some of them is actually building building their own self-consciousness.
[00:09:40] self-consciousness. That's not actually actually the way to have true discipline
[00:09:43] discipline and authority over it.
[00:09:44] it. So I think there will be necessary
[00:09:48] necessary harnesses built which secure secure them, which are external and
[00:09:52] and third party, and that's safety. safety. I don't think that's necessarily
[00:09:56] necessarily regulation, so to speak. speak. But you can't. Surely believe
[00:09:59] believe that companies should just just or the industry should regulate
[00:10:02] regulate itself at this point. We We saw this the hack in Australia,
[00:10:05] Australia, part of, you know, critical critical national infrastructure. infrastructure. That is the concern
[00:10:09] concern as well here, isn't it? So
[00:10:11] So you're saying I'm by then nature nature saying that we have to have
[00:10:15] have it regulated by governments. governments. Well does there not
[00:10:18] not need to be industry and government government partnership globally?
[00:10:21] globally? Well my point is I don't don't think it matters in a world world where there's open models which
[00:10:24] which are produced and released every every single day by Chinese model
[00:10:27] model companies, which can be downloaded downloaded and used locally. It's
[00:10:31] It's not possible. Can that not be
[00:10:33] be blocked by governments? I mean,
[00:10:36] mean, that's a hard task. I if they
[00:10:41] they can then good luck. But that's that's a hard task. That's like trying
[00:10:44] trying to block Bitcoin. It's an
[00:10:46] an open technology OK. But the risk
[00:10:49] risk as you know, is that individuals
[00:10:51] individuals rogue groups, rogue states
[00:10:54] states can use this technology, which which is everyone agrees in the last
[00:10:56] last six months even has become much
[00:10:58] much more powerful. And the risk risk is of creating terrible weapons,
[00:11:02] weapons, bio chem weapons, attacking attacking critical infrastructure.
[00:11:06] infrastructure. And as we heard from from the boss of Microsoft, we don't
[00:11:10] don't normally release any technology technology free into the global market market for individuals and governments
[00:11:13] governments and groups to use without
[00:11:15] without control. And so AI and exception.
[00:11:18] exception. And so you need deterministic deterministic controls on non-deterministic
[00:11:21] non-deterministic models where when when bad outputs are produced, you
[00:11:24] you have those deterministic controls controls block them. For example,
[00:11:27] example, if someone was asking to to construct weaponry then it would
[00:11:31] would block that output. And so non-deterministic
[00:11:34] non-deterministic models are controlled controlled by deterministic controls.
[00:11:37] controls. That would be helpful.
[00:11:39] helpful. Every new technology faces faces bad actors. Social media is
[00:11:43] is the same and it can also be used used for good. And I think this is
[00:11:47] is very much the same where in the the early wave of a new technology,
[00:11:50] technology, you are lagging behind behind in terms of safety and there
[00:11:53] there are bad actors who will use use it in those early years and will
[00:11:56] will often be successful in using using it. We're seeing that with with a lot of the cyber hacks and
[00:12:00] and that's obviously very concerning. concerning. It's I think, by nature
[00:12:03] nature of where we are in the development development cycle. Just quickly some
[00:12:07] some people will say, you know, you're you're you're a big investor. I know
[00:12:11] know a big supporter of UK businesses businesses in this area. You want
[00:12:14] want the UK economy to grow. I know
[00:12:17] know that that isn't money and the the need for profit driving, you
[00:12:20] you know, a pushback against regulation.
[00:12:22] regulation. I mean honestly in the the UK, I love the UK. We can say
[00:12:26] say what we want. This is not about about the UK. We can put in place
[00:12:29] place whatever we want. This is about about the US versus China in the
[00:12:33] the war for the most superior models.
[00:12:35] models. Again I love the UK but we
[00:12:38] we have to acknowledge I think our our position here we can build great
[00:12:41] great companies, but I think it's it's important to kind of recognise
[00:12:44] recognise our position. And again, again, I'm not saying that we don't don't need these controls. We do.
[00:12:48] do. I just think we need to be careful careful around how we implement regulation
[00:12:51] regulation because I don't want the
[00:12:53] the UK to be slow or behind. OK.
[00:12:55] OK. Got it. Harry Stebbings, venture venture capitalist thanks very much much indeed. Very good to speak to
[00:12:59] to you. Thank you. Thanks so much.
[00:13:01] much. Let's go back now to one of of our top stories today and the
[00:13:05] the renewed attacks by Yemen's Houthi Houthi rebels against targets in
[00:13:08] in Saudi Arabia. There were two deadly
[00:13:11] deadly strikes on Riyadh's main international international airport over the weekend.
[00:13:15] weekend. This was the moment on Saturday Saturday when a missile hit King King Khalid International airport
[00:13:18] airport as hundreds of people waited waited to board their flights. 13
[00:13:22] 13 people were killed and more than than 300 injured. On Sunday, another
[00:13:26] another attack killed one person person in the 11 were wounded. Let's
[00:13:29] Let's speak to our security correspondent, correspondent, Frank Gardner. Frank, Frank, thanks very much for being
[00:13:33] being with us. Very concerning for
[00:13:36] for people to see this. Is it a surprise
[00:13:39] surprise that the Saudis seem so so vulnerable here? Yeah, I think
[00:13:43] think it is a surprise at how poor poor or ineffective their air defences
[00:13:46] defences are. Saudi Arabia has spent spent billions and billions of dollars
[00:13:50] dollars over the last few decades
[00:13:52] decades in buying state of the art
[00:13:55] art defences equipment from mostly mostly from the US but also from
[00:13:58] from the UK and other countries. countries. And yet they seem unable
[00:14:02] unable to stop these very damaging damaging strikes that are hitting
[00:14:06] hitting not just King Khalid International International airport in Riyadh,
[00:14:09] Riyadh, but smaller airports like
[00:14:10] like Abha, Jizan but also their oil
[00:14:14] oil and petrochemical facilities facilities at Yanbu and Hugh Ferris
[00:14:17] Ferris and Dammam. So the Houthis,
[00:14:21] Houthis, who I think have perhaps perhaps been dismissed by some in
[00:14:23] in the region as being just a bunch
[00:14:26] bunch of sort of mountain brigands brigands with very antiquated weapons.
[00:14:30] weapons. They turn out to be far far more dangerous, I think, than
[00:14:33] than people expected. The Houthis Houthis survived seven years of warfare
[00:14:37] warfare with the Saudis from 2015
[00:14:40] 2015 to 2022. There was then a UN UN brokered truce and four years
[00:14:44] years of relative calm. Some there there were some unconfirmed reports
[00:14:47] reports of payouts by the Saudis.
[00:14:50] Saudis. Affectionate, effectively effectively kind of almost danegeld
[00:14:53] danegeld kind of protection money.
[00:14:55] money. But then that the war reignited
[00:14:57] reignited this summer when Saudi
[00:14:59] Saudi Arabia bombed Sanaa airport airport and the Houthis responded
[00:15:03] responded with a barrage of missiles.
[00:15:05] missiles. The Houthis then advanced
[00:15:07] advanced rapidly down the Red Sea
[00:15:10] Sea coast of Yemen, threatening the the Bab al-Mandab choke point at
[00:15:13] at the southern end of the Red Sea Sea so that they could control what
[00:15:16] what shipping goes from. From the the Mediterranean to the Indian Ocean.
[00:15:20] Ocean. So that's a huge geostrategic
[00:15:22] geostrategic win for them. If they
[00:15:25] they can do that and they're now now locked in a battle, the Saudis
[00:15:29] Saudis that it's difficult to see see how they can win this, they're they're not necessarily going to
[00:15:32] to lose it. But the Houthis are puncturing
[00:15:36] puncturing Saudi Arabia's image of
[00:15:38] of this great safe place to invest. invest. Absolutely. And Frank, I
[00:15:42] I guess the question is going to to be for many how might the Saudis
[00:15:45] Saudis and indeed the Americans respond?
[00:15:48] respond? Well, they've got two choices. choices. It's pretty stark. They
[00:15:51] They either escalate or de-escalate de-escalate an escalation, which
[00:15:55] which I think is probably on balance balance more likely at the moment. moment. I think this is going to
[00:15:59] to get worse before it gets better
[00:16:02] better means more air strikes by by the Saudis. I think that's unlikely
[00:16:05] unlikely to work. They spent seven seven years trying to bomb the Houthis
[00:16:09] Houthis into submission, including including bombing the capital Sanaa,
[00:16:11] Sanaa, the commercial port Hodeidah.
[00:16:14] Hodeidah. But meanwhile, on land,
[00:16:16] land, the Houthis are slowly encircling
[00:16:20] encircling the city of Taiz, which
[00:16:22] which is a very important. It's been
[00:16:25] been fought over for years. It's It's an important town or city on
[00:16:29] on the road to Aden, the big Indian
[00:16:32] Indian Ocean port that was once part
[00:16:35] part of Britain's protectorate in
[00:16:37] in south southern Yemen. So on land,
[00:16:40] land, I don't think the battle is is going very well for Saudi Arabia
[00:16:43] Arabia and its Yemeni allies, who who are in some degree of disarray,
[00:16:46] disarray, whereas the Houthis are
[00:16:50] are ideologically very determined. determined. They think they've got
[00:16:53] got right might right and God on
[00:16:55] on their side, they are being encouraged
[00:16:58] encouraged and trained and given
[00:17:00] given a lot of tactical advice by
[00:17:02] by Iranian IRGC commanders. Hundreds Hundreds apparently helped them in
[00:17:06] in that push along the Red Sea coast. coast. So it's a formidable enemy
[00:17:10] enemy that the Saudis are up against against here. I mean, who is not not going to invade Saudi Arabia?
[00:17:14] Arabia? They don't need to do that. that. They can hurt Saudi Arabia
[00:17:17] Arabia where it matters in its economic
[00:17:20] economic soft underbelly. Frank Gardner
[00:17:22] Gardner thank you very much. Around
[00:17:25] Around the world and across the
[00:18:28] every twist of the Premier League
[00:18:29] League season here on BBC News. Now
[00:18:36] Now a BBC investigation has revealed revealed that the world's biggest.
[00:18:39] biggest. Accountancy firm helped helped falsify documents that allowed allowed the former Chelsea Football
[00:18:43] Football Club owner Roman Abramovich Abramovich to hide his wealth and
[00:18:46] and evade tax. BBC Panorama has uncovered
[00:18:49] uncovered hundreds of documents that that were backdated by the Russian
[00:18:52] Russian billionaires advisers. Many Many were drawn up with the help
[00:18:55] help of Deloitte. Roman Abramovich Abramovich denies any wrongdoing.
[00:18:59] wrongdoing. Deloitte says it complies complies with applicable laws. Richard
[00:19:02] Richard Bilton reports. Things have
[00:19:07] have changed for Roman. Abramovich. Abramovich. He has. Been sanctioned.
[00:19:10] sanctioned. Because of his links links to Vladimir Putin. He's been
[00:19:12] been forced to sell his beloved Chelsea
[00:19:16] Chelsea and now revelations from from inside his financial empire.
[00:19:19] empire. If you want to understand
[00:19:22] understand Roman Abramovich, follow
[00:19:24] follow the money. This is Cyprus, Cyprus, home to a web of companies
[00:19:28] companies that were holding his wealth
[00:19:31] wealth working with the Bureau of
[00:19:33] of Investigative Journalism, Panorama Panorama has been investigating a
[00:19:37] a data leak which shows the lengths
[00:19:39] lengths some of his Cypriot advisers
[00:19:41] advisers went to hide his billions.
[00:19:44] billions. They falsified and backdated backdated hundreds of documents.
[00:19:47] documents. It is trying to cover
[00:19:50] cover up something and what we appear
[00:19:52] appear to have here is a fiddle factory
[00:19:55] factory in a fiddle factory you fiddle
[00:19:57] fiddle the transactions, you backdate backdate them and that is what appears
[00:20:01] appears to have been happening here
[00:20:03] here regularly. In 2003, one of Roman
[00:20:06] Roman Abramovich's Cypriot companies
[00:20:09] companies called Kravin Investments, Investments, had almost $2 billion
[00:20:12] billion of his money in the bank.
[00:20:15] bank. Deloitte confirms certain changes changes will have to be made to the
[00:20:19] the accounts. That's Deloitte apparently
[00:20:22] apparently advising on falsifying falsifying financial records by backdating
[00:20:25] backdating them. The evidence suggests
[00:20:28] suggests it allowed Mr Abramovich
[00:20:30] Abramovich to evade millions in tax.
[00:20:34] tax. It's a straightforward and blatant
[00:20:40] blatant move to protect from legitimate
[00:20:45] legitimate taxation assets which which should otherwise have been
[00:20:48] been subject to tax. So it's tax tax evasion. Yeah. Straightforward.
[00:20:51] Straightforward. And how serious serious is that? Well, again, if
[00:20:54] if it happened in England and it it was in the millions His Majesty's
[00:20:57] Majesty's Revenue and Customs would
[00:20:59] would be thinking about a prosecution.
[00:21:02] prosecution. Roman Abramovich's lawyers lawyers say he denies he evaded tax
[00:21:06] tax or concealed his fortune. They
[00:21:09] They say he was not involved in the
[00:21:11] the day to day operation of the companies
[00:21:13] companies and Panorama has provided provided no evidence that he knew
[00:21:17] knew of authorised or directed the
[00:21:20] the falsification or backdating of of any documents. Deloitte Cyprus
[00:21:24] Cyprus says it's unable to comment comment because the documents are
[00:21:28] are more than 20 years old and no
[00:21:30] no longer accessible. Richard Bilton Bilton there, who joins us now live.
[00:21:34] live. Richard, just tell us more more about the background to all
[00:21:37] all this. Well, Roman Abramovich,
[00:21:40] Abramovich, famous probably for being being the former owner of Chelsea
[00:21:43] Chelsea Football Club, but most of of his finances or a lot of them
[00:21:46] them were managed further afield
[00:21:49] afield in Cyprus. And as I mentioned mentioned in that report, Panorama,
[00:21:52] Panorama, along with the Bureau of of Investigative Journalism, we've
[00:21:54] we've been looking at this data leak
[00:21:57] leak which shows just how far some
[00:21:59] some of his Cypriot advisers were
[00:22:02] were prepared to go to hide his fortune.
[00:22:04] fortune. So they backdated and falsified falsified hundreds of documents,
[00:22:08] documents, all to hide his his vast
[00:22:11] vast wealth and the world's biggest biggest accountancy firm appears
[00:22:15] appears to have been involved. Deloitte
[00:22:17] Deloitte apparently helping falsify
[00:22:19] falsify paperwork and then signing signing off company accounts. Just Just tell us more then about how
[00:22:23] how it all worked and any examples.
[00:22:26] examples. Yeah. So I mean, it's complicated,
[00:22:31] complicated, but as well as Mr Abramovich's Abramovich's Cypriot advisers falsifying
[00:22:35] falsifying and backdating hundreds hundreds of documents just to hide
[00:22:38] hide his conceal his wealth, he also also did it to evade tax. So I'll
[00:22:41] I'll explain a bit more that deal deal that I mentioned in my report
[00:22:45] report there these things are complicated.
[00:22:48] complicated. But in 2003, a Cypriot
[00:22:51] Cypriot company held about $2 billion, billion, just short of that of Mr
[00:22:55] Mr Abramovich's money in a bank account. account. And it should have been
[00:22:59] been paying a tax on the interest interest on that money. But about
[00:23:03] about two years later, Mr Abramovich's Abramovich's Cypriot advisers came
[00:23:06] came up with a plan where they backdated backdated documents to make it look
[00:23:10] look like the company didn't own own the money. And if it didn't own
[00:23:12] own the money, it didn't have to to pay tax. Now we think the evidence
[00:23:16] evidence suggests that that deal deal would have allowed Mr Abramovich
[00:23:19] Abramovich to evade millions in tax
[00:23:23] tax in Cyprus. And Richard, just
[00:23:24] just tell us what's been the reaction.
[00:23:27] reaction. Well, as you heard in my
[00:23:30] my report, you know very strong response response from Mr Abramovich's lawyers.
[00:23:33] lawyers. They say he denies he evaded evaded tax or concealed his wealth.
[00:23:36] wealth. They say he wasn't involved involved in day to day operations,
[00:23:40] operations, and the companies obtained obtained professional legal and tax
[00:23:44] tax advice. They also specifically specifically say Panorama has provided
[00:23:47] provided no evidence that he knew
[00:23:49] knew of authorised or directed the
[00:23:51] the falsification or backdating of of any documents. And then Deloitte
[00:23:55] Deloitte Cyprus, they say, look it's it's they can't comment because the
[00:23:58] the documents are more than 20 years years old and they're no longer accessible.
[00:24:02] accessible. Richard Bilton, thanks thanks very much for being with us. us. It's good to speak to you. And
[00:24:06] And if you are here in the UK, you
[00:24:08] you can watch Panorama Roman Abramovich,
[00:24:10] Abramovich, how he hid his fortune fortune on the iPlayer now or on
[00:24:13] on BBC One tonight at 8 pm. One of
[00:24:16] of the story to bring you and the the European Climate Monitor says
[00:24:19] says temperatures in a key area of
[00:24:20] of the Pacific Ocean reached an all-time
[00:24:23] all-time high in September, but the the Copernicus Climate Change Service
[00:24:27] Service said it could not yet say say that the current El Nino climate
[00:24:30] climate cycle has become the most
[00:24:33] most intense ever recorded. It has has been widely predicted, of course,
[00:24:36] course, and because it's adopted adopted a new index, well, the phenomenon phenomenon is continuing to deepen
[00:24:40] deepen and is expected to reach its its peak towards the end of this
[00:24:43] this year. We'll be bringing you,
[00:24:45] you, of course, all of that. Just
[00:24:52] Just to bring you some breaking news
[00:24:55] news from France and the school head
[00:24:57] head of a middle school in Aubagne, Aubagne, near Marseille in the south
[00:25:01] south of France, has been shot and and wounded by a shotgun Monday morning,
[00:25:05] morning, this morning, and a 14-year-old 14-year-old has been arrested, according
[00:25:08] according to French media. A 37-year-old
[00:25:10] 37-year-old teacher was also hit, hit, according to the French media.
[00:25:13] media. Their injuries are not life life threatening. The interior and
[00:25:16] and education ministers are going
[00:25:17] going to be in Oban later today in
[00:25:20] in connection with the incident at at Lakanal Secondary School in Aubagne.
[00:25:24] Aubagne. That's according to the the French Interior Ministry and
[00:25:27] and the circumstances of this shooting
[00:25:30] shooting have not been specified.
[00:25:33] specified. But Reuters reporting
[00:25:34] reporting two teaching staff injured
[00:25:37] injured by gunfire at the Lakanal
[00:25:39] Lakanal School in Urban near Marseille
[00:25:42] Marseille and a. They're saying that
[00:25:44] that a pupil was suspected of being
[00:25:47] being behind the attack. We'll bring
[00:25:50] bring you more on that as we get
[00:25:53] get it. Well, do stay with us here
[00:25:56] here on BBC News. I'm Geeta Guru-Murthy Guru-Murthy we'll be back with all
[00:25:59] all our news in particular on Ukraine Ukraine and events in the Middle
[00:26:03] Middle East in the coming hour. And
[00:26:04] And of course, AI do stay with us.
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