Sean Connery hits back at critics that claim he lives abroad to avoid paying tax

Reuters are reporting that Sir Sean Connery has hit back at claims his tax exile status in the Bahamas undermined his staunch support for Scottish independence.

The orginal 007 said he had still paid millions of pounds in UK tax while living abroad.

Connery, now 72, revealed his tax records to The Herald newspaper, Glasgow, in a bid to forestall criticism ahead of May elections when he is expected to be an active supporter of the independence-minded Scottish Nationalist Party (SNP).

He told the paper in an interview published on Thursday that he had paid $5.93 million in British tax since 1997.

"I`m an easy target because of my political opinions but I defy anyone in Scotland to find one detail where I knowingly ever did anything that was to the detriment of Scotland," Connery said. "It gets up my nose."

He said he also paid more than $4.49 million in UK taxes on three big films before 1997.

"I pay full tax wherever I am working," Connery said. "Since I`ve gone out of my way to bring film projects to the UK, instead of Hollywood, that`s meant I`ve paid full tax here."

Connery also claimed Britain`s ruling Labour Party denied him a knighthood back in 1997 because of concerns over his close links with he radical SNP.

The nomination for a knighthood came after 1997 general elections, following a proposal by the previous Conservative government, he said.

"I had been put up for a knighthood...and (former Scottish Secretary Donald) Dewar said `no way.` Why? Because one had too much publicity associated with the nationalists."

Connery was eventually knighted by Queen Elizabeth in Edinburgh three years later.

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