Ivan Cermak’s mind may not be focused right now on the affairs of Crodux Ltd, his British-registered business.

The company, which is involved in the oil industry in Croatia and has its registered office in Marlow Bottom, Buckinghamshire, recorded a turnover of just £24,000 in 2006.

Its lacklustre performance is attributed in documents lodged at Companies House to debtor issues. But Mr Cermak may also be distracted by his pending trial on allegations of war crimes at the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia.

A former general in the Croatian Army, he is accused, along with two other men, of driving Serb civilians out of the Krajina region in 1995.

According to case summaries produced by the tribunal in The Hague, the men were involved in a military campaign to drive out the Serb population “by force, fear or threat of force, persecution, forced displacement, transfer and deportation, appropriation and destruction of property”.

The alleged “ethnic cleansing” of the area is said to have “inflicted extensive and widespread inhumane acts on Serb civilians”.

Mr Cermak is understood to deny the allegations vigorously. Michael Collins, the company secretary of Crodux, said: “He’s a businessman - he’s not a military man at all.”

There is no allegation of any wrongdoing in Mr Cermak’s business affairs. But his connection to the conflict in the Balkans means he is a “politically exposed person” and, according to World-Check, should be subjected to some form of vetting process if he is to be a company director.

World-Check’s list includes a British citizen who is soon to stand trial for serious terrorist offences.

Also on the list is a Sheffield-based businessman accused of involvement in a $34 million (£17.5 million) fraud in Massachusetts.

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