Appeal Court judges have dismissed an attempt by Dutch multi millionaire John Deuss (pictured) to get a warrant issued for his arrest ruled unlawful.

The oil tycoon took his case to the Court of Appeal after Puisne Judge Norma Wade-Miller twice rejected his lawyer's claim that the September 2006 warrant for his arrest and extradition to his homeland should never have been issued.

The appeal panel — President Edward Zacca, Sir Anthony Evans and Sir Murray Stuart-Smith — upheld both her decisions on Friday and said Magistrate Khamisi Tokunbo was right to issue the provisional warrant.

Mr. Deuss, who has a home in Tucker's Town and an office in Flatts, went back to the Netherlands voluntarily in October 2006 after being arrested on the Island.

Prosecutors there wanted to question him about suspected money laundering, handling of stolen property and being in charge of a criminal organisation.

Mr. Deuss' First Curaço International Bank (FICB) in the Dutch Antilles was said to be involved in a complex "carousel" fraud which has lost European governments billions in tax revenues in recent years. He has always denied any wrongdoing.

The 65-year-old spent two months in custody in Holland before being released. His lawyer in Bermuda, Jai Pachai, told The Royal Gazette last month he wanted the warrant overturned on a "point of principle" and that it was "very important for his reputation".

Mr. Pachai could not be contacted on Friday to comment on whether his client would take the case any further.

Clare Montgomery, the British QC acting for Mr. Deuss in court, argued that extradition arrangements between Bermuda and the Netherlands established in law in the late 19th Century were revoked by subsequent legislation, a claim dismissed by the appeal judges.

They also rejected her assertion that the offences her client is accused of were not extraditable crimes in Bermuda and found that Mr. Tokunbo was right to issue the warrant after a request from the Government on behalf of the Dutch authorities.

Mr. Deuss was chairman of Bermuda Commercial Bank but resigned on October 5, 2006 after the probe into suspected illegal banking by some clients of FICB was launched.