John Deuss: The most powerful man in Bermuda?

Bermuda-based oil magnate John Deuss, 55, has lived a life that is remarkable even among the rich and famous. Since his first car dealership business went bust, he has outwitted the Soviets, broken an oil embargo in South Africa, had his home firebombed by anti-apartheid protesters and helped clinch the world’s largest oil deal. In the process, the Dutchman has made billions of dollars. Now it appears to many that he has ‘bought’ the new PLP government in Bermuda. Deuss paid off the mortgage on the party’s headquarters a few years ago, appointed PLP leader and new Bermuda Premier Jennifer Smith as a director of his Bermuda bank and is widely thought to have spent at least $2 million financing the PLP’s entire election campaign that culminated in the party winning power for the first time earlier this month. A reliable source also told us that, several months ago, Deuss began paying Smith $150,000 per year that is categorized as a ‘clothing allowance’. DAVID MARCHANT takes a look at his career and asks: ‘John Deuss – Hero or Villain?’.