Bermuda has been his base for more than 30 years but when Dutch businessman John Deuss flew off the Island on Thursday evening, he may have been wondering when he would next see it again. The Royal Gazette?s Sam Strangeways traces the events which led to him leaving his beloved home for the Netherlands in the company of detectives.

John Deuss is no stranger to transatlantic flights and, as a man who has amassed a fortune thanks to his incredible head for business, he is probably most comfortable on board either of his two private Gulfstream jets.

On Thursday evening, his travel arrangements were slightly less luxurious.

The oil tycoon and banker, instead of heading for the executive entrance or the first-class desk, checked in for a British Airways flight to London at Bermuda International Airport in the custody of the Island?s Police. His face betrayed nothing of his feelings as he entered the Airport via its Police Station.

An officer followed him, carrying his luggage: a small blue suitcase, a briefcase and a leather document wallet.

Mr. Deuss didn?t stop to glance back at the sea or the palm trees.

Instead, he looked impassively at photographer who snapped away at him, stared up at the Police station sign and calmly made his way into the building.

His appearance had noticeably improved since Monday when he appeared in Magistrates? Court pale-faced and gaunt after three nights in the cells at Hamilton Police Station.

A further three nights in his own bed at his grand home in Shore Lane, Tucker?s Town, St. George?s after he was granted $10 million bail, had put the colour back in his cheeks.

And perhaps too the shock of his arrest the previous Friday ? at a property normally used by his pilots ? was beginning to wear off. As a man with a personal fortune which certainly runs into hundreds of millions ? and which, according to some, tips well over the billion dollar mark ? he could be forgiven for feeling pretty invincible.

Twenty years ago, he told a journalist that money was important to him because it ?means power?. But this week that power was snatched from him and he became, as Senior Magistrate Archibald Warner couldn?t have made clearer in court, no different to any man in the street.

When Mr. Deuss? lawyer Jai Pachai danced around the subject of his client being put ?into the care? of Police, Mr. Warner scoffed at his use of ?fancy words?.

For although the Dutch detectives who travelled to the Island on Tuesday smiled, shook hands, and chatted amiably with Mr. Deuss in court, the truth was they were there to ensure he returned to the Netherlands to be quizzed in connection with an illegal practice ? so-called carousel fraud ? which robs governments of billions of dollars each year.

The former chairman of Bermuda Commercial Bank was transferred into their custody at the Airport ? away from the glare of the cameras.

An overnight flight, perhaps in economy class, followed before the three men caught a connection to Holland.

Soon after that plane touched down on Dutch soil, Mr. Deuss, who had agreed to be extradited, was arrested for alleged irregularities in the running of his Caribbean-based First Cura?ao International Bank (FCIB).

The warrant for his arrest had listed allegations of habitual or deliberate laundering, handling of stolen property and being in charge of a criminal organisation. He denies any wrongdoing.

The Cura?ao bank had its assets frozen last month after authorities in the UK discovered that 2,500 fraudulent traders had accounts there which are suspected to have been used to stash hundreds of millions of dollars in tax illegally gained on goods imported and exported repeatedly across national borders.

The bank itself is suspected of operating without a required permit.

Dutch prosecutors were staying tight-lipped on Friday about where Mr. Deuss would be spending the weekend prior to a closed hearing before a judge in The Hague early next week.

Chances are it will not be at his palatial $6 million castle in Berg en Dal, near his home town Nijmegen in the Netherlands, but once again in Police custody.

It was his Berg en Dal home which was firebombed by anti-apartheid terrorists back in the 1980s after Mr. Deuss flouted an oil embargo against South Africa.

The attack forced him to tighten up security there and at his $5 million Deep Water estate in Hamilton Parish, which he put on the market in 1997 before buying his Tucker?s Town residence.

And it was a Police raid on a property in Berg en Dal last month, along with a search of FCIB?s headquarters in Cura?ao, offices in Zeelandia and properties in London and south Wales, that led to the warrant for Mr. Deuss? arrest being issued.

His sister Tineke, 60, a former director of BCB who is on the board of FCIB, was arrested in September and though she has since been released it is understood she remains a suspect in the investigation being carried out by Dutch and British authorities.

Friends in Bermuda hope Mr. Deuss will return to the Island sooner rather than later.

Some ? including two former Premiers, Sir John Swan and Dr. David Saul ? have heaped praise on him for his charitable donations to Bermudian causes.

A female friend here, who asked to remain anonymous, told yesterday he was ?a very kind, gentle, loyal friend?. She added: ?He loves Bermuda. He has a tremendous interest in the country. He?s very passionate about everything. You would think that this was his homeland.?