May.08, 2010

(HMG) – Sean Connery has been associated with and ordered to give evidence at a court in Spain in regards to an alleged money-laundering scam.  The Scottish actor, 79, and his second wife, French artist Micheline Roquebrune, 81, have been named as part of an investigation into a property scandal that has embroiled former members of Marbella’s town council.

The James Bond star and his wife bought a beachfront mansion, Casa Malibu, near Puerto Banus, after their wedding in 1975  and later sold it in 1999 for a reported $9 million, after tiring of the overdevelopment in the area.  A developer later used the site to build a four-storey block containing 72 holiday apartments.

But an investigation has opened into the sale of the property amid allegations of tax evasion and money-laundering,  and Connery has been ordered along with his wife to appear before the magistrate at Marbella’s Court of Instruction during a hearing scheduled later this month.  Investigators are looking at alleged irregularities in the reclassification of the land on which the mansion stood after its sale by the film star.  At this time there is no suggestion that Connery or his wife were involved in any wrongdoing themselves.  The 79-year-old actor has not appeared on the big screen since 2003’s The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, though he has done some voice work of late on animation film ‘Sir Billi the Vet.