The court in Marbella has been waiting 18 months for Sean Connery and his wife Micheline to respond to questions regarding an alleged money laundering operation related to sale of the Connery villa. The possible participation of companies linked to the couple in an allegedly irregular real estate deal involving the sale of their Marbella home ‘Malibu’ is under investigation in the case, which results from a complaint presented to the anti-corruption prosecutor in 2006. It has been estimated that Marbella Town Hall lost out to the tune of 2.7 million € because of the deal which has been estimated to have generated profits of 53 million as 72 luxury apartments were built on the site of the villa, previously owned by the Connerys. The actor and his wife face money laundering charges, with reported transfers of more than 37 million € abroad, to the U.K. and Uruguay reported to be under investigation. Now the case has lost its second instruction judge in Marbella, Manuel Jaén Vallejo, who has been promoted into the Ministry for Justice. That means that Instruction Court 1 in Marbella has been left in the hands of a support judge until a new one can be appointed. There are three parts to the case, a deal signed between ex Mayor of Marbella, Julián Muñoz, and the Malibú S.A. company, the owner of the Connery villa, and two others regarding adjoining property owned by the company, ‘By the Sea’. 80 year old Sean Connery claimed reasons of poor health for his lack of an appearance in October 2010 despite being told, by letter to his house in Nassau, that ‘all legal measures available, both in national legislation and international legislation would be used’ to oblige Connery and his wife to declare. Bail was set at 3.3 million € for the couple in terms of civil responsibility.
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