Thursday, October 19, 2006

HAMILTON, Bermuda (Reuters): John Deuss, wanted in Europe for questioning about money laundering and other illicit activities, will leave his exile home in Bermuda and hand himself over to authorities in Holland, a source close to the Dutch businessman and oil tycoon said on Wednesday.

The source, who did not want to be identified, said Deuss was leaving Bermuda voluntarily and would fly out of the British mid-Atlantic territory on Thursday.

Deuss, 64, once considered one of the world's most important independent oil traders, was arrested on Friday and held in Hamilton Police station before being released on $10 million bail on Monday.

The arrest warrant -- originally issued by authorities in the Netherlands -- seeks his extradition for questioning about alleged handling of stolen property, money laundering, and belonging to a criminal organization.

Mark Pettingill, a lawyer for Deuss, declined to comment on Wednesday but at a hearing earlier in the week Deuss's legal team stressed that he was not charged with any crime but simply wanted for questioning.

Deuss, who has maintained his innocence in the past, has also declined comment since his arrest.

He will be accompanied by Dutch police when he takes Thursday's scheduled British Airways flight to London where a connecting flight will take him to the Netherlands.

Deuss supplied the South African apartheid government with oil in the 1980s. He has also traded in Russian oil, before and after the collapse of the Soviet Union.

Deuss stepped down as chairman and chief executive officer of Bermuda Commercial Bank last month after it became public that the bank's leading shareholder, First Curacao International Bank, was being investigated for money laundering by regulators in the Netherlands and on the Dutch Caribbean island of Curacao.

First Curacao International is wholly owned by Deuss, who has had a home in Bermuda for about 30 years.

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