Bermuda may be only 21 square miles but if you?re a multi-millionaire oil tycoon trying to avoid the long arm of the law, it seems it?s not that hard a place to go missing.

Reclusive Dutch businessman John Deuss ? wanted for questioning in Europe about an elaborate tax scam known as carousel fraud ? appears to have vanished into thin air since a warrant for his arrest was issued last week.

Police on the Island admitted as much last night by calling on the public to help track him down. Bermuda Police Service issued a statement late yesterday asking anyone knowing his whereabouts to contact them.

Force spokesman Robin Simmons said he could make no other comment about whether officers had already searched for Mr. Deuss, a long-term Bermuda resident with an office in Flatts, or whether he was known to definitely be on the Island.

Earlier in the week, Police and Government refused to comment on whether they were helping Dutch prosecutors, who want Mr. Deuss extradited to Holland.

Authorities there suspect that traders have been using one of Mr. Deuss? companies, First Cura?ao International Bank (FCIB), to stash hundreds of millions of dollars of illicit tax gains.

Mr. Deuss is not implicated in the tax fraud and has denied wrongdoing on the part of any of his companies.

His lawyer Mark Pettingill, who tried unsuccessfully to argue in court earlier this week that the warrant was illegal, could not be contacted for comment yesterday. But he has previously said that his client would not be contacting detectives himself as they have made it clear that they intend to arrest him.

Mr. Pettingill said he did not know Mr. Deuss? whereabouts.

The 64-year-old resigned as chairman of Bermuda Commercial Bank, of which FCIB is the largest shareholder, on Wednesday. Bank president Timothy Ulrich and board director Tineke Deuss, now confirmed to be Mr. Deuss? sister, also stepped down.

All three are directors of FCIB, which has had its assets frozen by authorities in Europe.

The carousel fraud has been uncovered by a joint operation between Dutch and UK authorities that has included raids in London, the Netherlands and south Wales.

Swindlers have robbed governments of billions of dollars each year by repeatedly importing and exporting goods across national borders and skimming off tax payments into bank accounts.