Connery caught up in Spanish probe
Last night the Oscar-winning film star and his wife were subpoenaed by the Spanish court system to testify as part of an investigation into an alleged property scandal in one of the most luxurious parts of the world.
The two have not been arrested and are not facing any charges in the case.
However, the 80-year-old actor, who lives in the Bahamas, has been told by a Spanish judge in Madrid to return to the country and answer a list of questions surrounding the sale of his seaside villa near the jet-set resort of Marbella.
In May, the Scottish actor was named as a person of interest in the investigation behind the case, which has been labelled “Goldfinger” by the Spanish press after the 1964 Bond movie.
It specifically involves the sale by Mr Connery of his villa, named Malibu, in 1999 for a reported €6.5 million.
According to Spanish investigators, the villa was knocked down in late 2004 and replaced by a luxury four-storey apartment complex with 72 flats. This was despite planning rules which stated that only five homes could be constructed on the land. In May, Spanish police raided the Madrid and Marbella offices of a law firm which is believed to have handled the sale.
As part of the same investigation the Scottish actor and his French-born wife, Micheline, have been summoned to appear before the judge in Marbella on October 15.
The judge said that if they fail to appear he “may use all legal means under both the national and international law to compel them”.
Among other individuals named in the case are former mayor of Marbella, Julian Munoz, and the city’s one-time chief of urban planning, Juan Antonio Roca.
The officials are both on trial in the Malaga property corruption scandal that led to the dissolution of the town council in the glitzy resort of Marbella in 2006.
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