John Deuss

Deuss has not been interrogated for a while and the public prosecutor considered detention no longer necessary for the investigation, a spokeswoman for the public prosecutor said.

He was released on a 2.5 million euro ($3.3 million) bail and he had to hand over his passport to ensure he would stay in the Netherlands, she added.

Deuss, 64, once considered one of the world's most important independent oil traders, arrived in the Netherlands in October from Bermuda and was arrested by Dutch police, who had issued a warrant for his arrest.

The warrant sought his extradition for questioning about alleged handling of stolen property, money laundering and belonging to a criminal organisation.

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

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.

The Dutchman stepped down as chairman and chief executive officer of Bermuda Commercial Bank in September 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.