Friday, November 27, 2015

Sean Connery's 86-Year Old Wife Faces Tax-Fraud Charges; Prison Time



Sean Connery's wife, Micheline Roquebrune, 86, is facing tax fraud charges in Spain and has been ordered to stand trial.

A judge in Marbella made his trial decision after a long-running investigation into the 1999 sale of the home Connery, 85, and his artist wife owned in the Costa del Sol resort, reports The Daily Mial.

Connery, himself, was investigated over the same case but was told he would not face charges. Investigating magistrate Alfredo Mondeja labelled the former James Bond 'obstructive and ignorant' as he announced his decision to eliminate him from his inquiry.

A rogatory letter will now be sent to the Bahamas where the couple live informing Micheline of the court decision and ordering her to appoint a defense lawyer.

A date for the trial, which will take place at a criminal court in Malaga, has yet to be set.
State prosecutors formally accused Connery's wife of being an accomplice to an alleged tax fraud in an indictment earlier this year.

They say she aided and abetted a complex operation to defraud the Spanish Treasury of nearly £5.5 million in 2006 through a Spanish company called By The Sea.

Prosecutors allege Micheline collaborated with other lawyers and businessmen charged in the case to formalise 'fictitious legal transactions' so profits obtained during the sale of Casa Malibu could be hidden from the taxman.

The heroic Connery has dragged his feet in answering investigator questions that might incriminate his wife. Which has caused Mondeja to lash out, "Perhaps it would lead one to think that the idea was to protect or hide the acts or participation of the actor's wife, something that only harmed Sir Sean himself."

And that is how the government sees things: The state over your wife.

Connery made a number of errors in this transaction, but the worst was getting his wife involved. A very wealthy and shrewd man told me a long time ago that you never put your wife in a position where the government could at some future point go after her.

According to the Daily Mail, prison sentences for first-time offenders in Spain are normally only suspended if they are two years or less, raising the real prospect Connery's wife will do time if she is convicted and sentenced in line with the state prosecution demand that she be sentenced to 2 1/2 years if convicted.

 -RW


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