Sean Connery Told To Cooperate With Operation Goldfinger Property Case

Sir Sean Connery has been warned to cooperate with a Spanish judge investigating alleged financial irregularities over a property he once owned on the Costa del Sol or face possible arrest.
The Scottish actor, 82, has been given six months to answer questions about the sale of his Marbella home in 1999.
The former James Bond star and his wife Micheline Roquebrune were first named three years ago as part of an investigation into a property scandal dubbed Operation Goldfinger that has embroiled former members of Marbella's Town Council.
Sir Sean cited his age and poor health as reasons for failing to appear before a judge in October 2010 and it was agreed he and his wife would provide signed statements in answer to a list of questions.
But three years on and with no response the judge in charge of the case has issued the pair with a six-month deadline.
"The investigating judge has decided to continue his probe against 17 people," a court source said.
"In respect of Sean Connery and his wife he has decided to give them another six months to respond to the rogatory commission.
"If they respond he will analyse their answers before announcing his next step which would be adding them to the 17 people he is set to recommend for trial or eliminating them from his inquiries.
"If they don't respond the most likely scenario will be for him to issue international arrest warrants against Mr Connery and his wife."
Sir Sean and his wife bought a beachfront home, Casa Malibu, near Puerto Banus, after their wedding in 1975 and spent much of their time on the Costa del Sol where they indulged their love of golf in between his film projects.
They are said to have entertained some of the top film and sports stars of the time at the whitewashed villa including Sir Michael Caine and George Best before selling the home in 1999 for a reported £5.5 million.
A developer later used the site to build a four-storey block containing 72 holiday apartments sold for an estimated £45 million despite planning regulations stipulating that only five flats could be built there. The alleged crimes being investigated include money laundering, tax evasion and town planning breaches.
Ms Roquebrune has previously claimed: "These allegations of money-laundering are nonsense.
"We have nothing to do with this. We sold the property and that is it."
Receptionists at both the Marbella and Madrid offices of law firm Diaz-Bastien & Truan, which has represented Sir Sean in the past, said the company had no comment to make and refused to say if it continued to look after the actor's legal affairs in Spain.