AMSTERDAM, Netherlands (AP) ? Authorities arrested a Dutch businessman today in connection with an international tax fraud investigation involving a bank in the Dutch Caribbean island of Curacao, authorities said.

John Deuss, 64, a banker and oil trader, was arrested upon arrival from Bermuda for alleged irregularities in the running of his First Curacao International Bank, said Valentine Hoen, a spokeswoman for the national financial prosecutor's office.

Deuss has denied wrongdoing.

Dutch authorities say the bank operated in Curacao without a license. European authorities have frozen accounts at the bank, the owners of which are suspected of involvement in a tax fraud scam.

Deuss was to appear at a closed hearing before a judge in The Hague in within three days, Hoen said.

Deuss travelled to Amsterdam voluntarily, but under police escort, from his residence in the British mid-Atlantic island of Bermuda after waiving his rights to an extradition hearing.

Bermuda authorities had detained him a week ago on an international warrant, and released him on US$10 million (euro8 million) bail.

According to the warrant, Dutch authorities suspect him of money laundering, handling stolen property and being in charge of a criminal organisation.

Account holders allegedly stashed hundreds of millions of dollars (euros) in gains from a "carousel fraud" scheme in his bank. In the scheme, which is believed to cost governments billions of dollars (euros) a year, traders repeatedly import and export goods across national borders, but put sales tax payments into private accounts instead of giving them to the government.

Deuss is known as an oil trader who ignored international sanctions against the apartheid-era government in South Africa.

His defence team includes British attorney Clare Montgomery, who represented former Chilean dictator Gen. Augusto Pinochet in his pursuit of immunity from foreign courts in the late 1990s.

Earlier this month, the Bermuda Commercial Bank announced without explanation that Deuss was resigning as its chairman, along with board member Tineke Deuss, his sister, and the bank president. All three are directors of First Curacao International Bank, which is the largest shareholder of Bermuda Commercial Bank.

Dutch authorities said they had raided a home and office in the town of Berg en Dal, where the Deuss family has properties, in connection with the investigation.