By AVA TURNQUEST

Tribune Staff Reporter

aturnquest@tribunemedia.net

THE wife of retired Scottish movie star Sir Sean Connery yesterday denied claims that her husband was friends with billionaire fashion designer Peter Nygard.

Micheline Roquebrune Connery said the couple briefly visited Mr Nygard’s home once, but never returned to the Lyford Cay property that has been mired by controversy in recent months.

Mrs Connery denied statements made on behalf of Mr Nygard last week, which indicated that the pair were friends and that Sir Sean was a frequent guest at his home.

“Sean, my husband, went only for a very brief moment to Nygard’s property, accompanied by me and a friend, just to have a look,” she told The Tribune.

“It was for a very short time, he never has been a friend of Mr Nygard. That was the only time we went to his place. (Nygard) made it seem like we had been many times, but it was just once, very short.”

The James Bond star, along with Baha Mar chairman Sarkis Izmirlian and television personality Nancy Grace, are among 103 residents jointly suing the Bahamas government over its “flawed” public consultation process for Mr Nygard’s proposed expansion plans at Simms Point/Nygard Cay.

The residents and environmental group Save the Bays (STB) were given permission to have a judicial review of the government’s consultation process over all of Mr Nygard’s applications last week.

The Supreme Court granted the injunction requests against the government, which now prevents the Christie administration from making decisions on Mr Nygard’s applications for building permits and Crown land pending the results of the judicial review.

The justices’ decision came despite the government’s move last week to extend its consultation process after admitting confusion and flaws in the process thus far.

The residents expressed concerns about environmental degradation and unauthorised activities by Mr Nygard that they believe have already taken place in the area.

The judgment came days after scores of Nygard supporters marched noisily through downtown Nassau in defence of the billionaire over the criticism he has received from environmentalists and other Lyford Cay residents concerning his controversial development plans.

In his statement last week, the billionaire fashion designer said the lawsuits were “legal stalling tactics” and presented no new environmental assessments.