ST : Connery's property in probe on money-laundering

May 10, 2010

Connery's property in probe on money-laundering

Madrid - Property once owned by Oscar-winning film star Sean Connery in the south of Spain is at the centre of a money-laundering investigation.

Twenty-eight people are under judicial investigation in the case, the spokesman for the Superior Court of Justice of Andalucia said. She did not say if the 79-year-old former James Bond star was among them.

The money-laundering and malfeasance case - prompted by a complaint from a local resident - relates to 'land which once belonged to him and which was reclassified' under conditions deemed suspicious by investigators, she said.

'The investigation is covered by judicial secrecy and we do not reveal the names of those under judicial investigation, much less when they have not yet been summoned by the court,' the spokesman added.

Police raided the law offices of Diaz-Bastien and Truan in the jetset resort of Marbella and in Madrid as part of the investigation, a police spokesman said without giving further details.

Spanish media reported that the law firm represented the Hollywood actor.

Spanish news network Cadena Ser and other media outlets say Connery and his wife Micheline Roquebrune will be called to a court over the case.

The star had bought the seaside villa named Malibu just east of Marbella in the early 1970s, and put it up for sale in 1998 for US$9 million, the Madrid newspaper El Pais reported.

The villa was subsequently knocked down and afour-storey luxury apartment complex was built on the land where it once stood.

Agence France-Presse



Actor Sean Connery and his wife, Micheline (both above), will be called to a court over the case, reported Spanish news media. -- PHOTO: AP