New inquiry into Sir Sean Connery's multi-million pound Spanish property deals

Sir Sean Connery was facing a fresh probe into alleged financial irregularities today after a judge widened his investigation into the former 007, reports the Daily Mail.

Connery, 79, and second wife Micheline Roquebrune, 81, are already being investigated over the sale of a seaside property they owned in the millionaires' playground of Marbella in southern Spain.

Today it emerged judge Ricardo Puyol also wants to quiz the pair over a separate multi-million pound land sale in Malaga six years ago.

Investigators believe a property firm linked to Connery and his wife may have failed to pay tax on the sale of development rights to land it owned on the outskirts of the city.

Local newspaper Sur today published a report by police and tax authorities alleging that the company omitted to pay £1.4m in corporation tax.

Puyol is said to have ordered a formal request for the former James Bond and his wife to appear before him to give evidence.

The request is expected to be made through a rogatory letter to authorities in the Bahamas where the couple have their official residence.

Sur said Spanish authorities were keen to quiz Connery as soon as possible because the alleged tax irregularities will become spent on July 25.

The Scot does not figure as a director of Montelagares, the Spanish firm reportedly identified in court papers as the company behind the July 2004 land sale linked to Connery.

But a lawyer at the Madrid law firm he has used is named as a former director.

The firm, Diaz-Bastien & Truan, is also under investigation over the sale of Connery's beachside mansion in Marbella, Casa Malibu, and the subsequent reclassification of the land.

It is thought to have represented the former 007 in the sale of the house.

Police raided their offices in Marbella and Madrid in May in an operation codenamed Goldfinger after the 1964 Bond film, and seized 30,000 documents.

The extension of the Connery probe comes less than a month after the Scot was reportedly ordered to pay £2.75m to a court investigating the sale of Casa Malibu.

Connery, knighted in 2000, and his wife were given 30 days to pay the deposit as a bond against possible future compensation.

Judge Ricardo Puyol is investigating alleged irregularities in the reclassification of the land after the actor sold it for a reported £5.5 million in 1998.

In 2004 and 2005 a four-storey block of 72 luxury flats was built on the land, apparently despite a 1986 planning regulation which said only five homes could be constructed on it.

Spain's Court of Audit is said to have estimated the Spanish taxman was owed £2.25m over the sale of the house.

Neither Connery or his wife have been arrested or charged with any offence.

The couple bought Casa Malibu after their wedding in 1975 and lived there until the late 90s.

They entertained stars including Richard Burton, Michael Caine, Omar Sharif and George Best in the magnificent whitewashed villa.

Flats on the site are currently selling for around £2m.

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