SIR Sean Connery’s wife has been ordered to stand trial over an alleged multi-million pound tax fraud.

State prosecutors want French-born Micheline Roquebrune jailed for two and a half years and fined more than £16 million if found guilty.

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

The former 007 was investigated over the same case but told he would not face trial at the start of last year.

Investigating magistrate Alfredo Mondeja decided to shelve his investigation into the retired Scots actor after receiving a 56-page affidavit from him denying any wrongdoing.

But he labelled Sir Sean “obstructive and ignorant” as he announced his decision to eliminate him from his inquiry - dubbed Goldfinger after the famous 1964 James Bond film he starred in.

He said at the same time he was continuing his investigation against Sir Sean’s wife - who has now been charged - over alleged irregularities in the sale of the couple’s former home called Casa Malibu.

A rogatory letter will now be sent to the Bahamas, where the couple live, informing Ms Roquebrune of the court decision and ordering her to appoint a defence 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 Sir Sean’s wife of being 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 EUROS 7.7 million (£5.5m) in 2006 through a Spanish company called By The Sea.

The fine they are seeking for her is three times the amount they allege was defrauded.

Prison sentences for first-time offenders are normally only suspended if they are two years or less, raising the prospect Sir Sean’s wife will serve time behind bars if she is convicted and sentenced in line with the state prosecution demand.

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

It was sold in 1999 and subsequently demolished.

More than 70 flats, later sold for an estimated £45m, were built in its place despite planning regulations stipulating only five flats could be built there.

The long-running judicial investigation into the deal will reach open court in January when 16 defendants including a former corrupt mayor of Marbella and two lawyers, go on trial.

Former Marbella mayor Julian Munoz and ex-town planning chief Juan Antonio Roca, two of those set to stand trial, are already serving prison sentences for separate corruption convictions.

Ms Roquebrune’s trial will take place separately because the last part of the investigation into her alleged wrongdoing has been conducted as a separate investigation.

A prosecutor acting on behalf of Marbella Town Hall and a specialist prosecutor who pursues crimes against the state will also take the stand against her as well as the standard state prosecutor.

Ms Roquebrune, Sir Sean's second wife, has previously claimed when allegations of money laundering first surfaced at the start of the Goldfinger judicial investigation: "These allegations of money-laundering are nonsense.

"We have nothing to do with this. We sold the property and that is it."

Diaz-Bastian & Truan, Sir Sean’s lawyers at the time of the Marbella property deal, have repeatedly refused to respond to emails sent to their offices in the Costa del Sol resort and Madrid asking them for a comment.

Investigating judge Alfredo Mondeja earlier criticised the couple over delays in the case.

He announced his decision that he was taking no further action against Sir Sean after receiving an affidavit from the actor more than a year and a half after it was completed - and two and a half years after investigators sent an international ‘letter of request’ to the Bahamas.

Accusing Sir Sean of “legal ignorance”, he described the delays as incomprehensible, adding: "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."

A leaked copy of Sir Sean's affidavit was published in a respected Spanish newspaper shortly before Mr Mondeja announced his decision.

It showed the retired actor denied any links to corrupt town hall officials in Marbella who are now serving prison sentences and any involvement in firms linked to the alleged multi-million fraud relating to the property deal.