Camila Vega
Following tax fraud charges, Shakira will go to trial and could face prison. On Friday, Spanish prosecutors said they would seek a prison sentence of more than eight years against the global music superstar. Consequently, Shakira’s trial was announced after she rejected a plea deal over tax evasion allegations.
Barcelona’s prosecutors will also demand a fine of almost 24 million euros (USD 24.5 million) from the singer of “Hips don’t Lie”, 45, who is accused of defrauding the Spanish tax agency of 14.5 million euros on income earned between 2012 and 2014.
Shakira, who has sold more than 60 million copies of albums, rejected a plea deal on Wednesday, and stated through her lawyers that she was “absolutely certain of her innocence” and that she had decided to let the case go to court, “confident” that her innocence would be proven.
Shakira’s Tax Evasion Trial Could Be a Reality Sooner Rather Than Later
A formal referral to court has not yet been announced, nor has a trial date been set. The lawyers of Shakira, one of the biggest names in the global music industry, say a settlement remains possible until the start of any trial.
Prosecutors say Shakira moved to Spain in 2011 when her relationship with FC Barcelona defender Gerard Pique became public, but that she maintained official tax residency in the Bahamas until 2015. The couple, who has two children, announced their breakup in June.
On Wednesday, the star criticized the “total violation of her rights” and the “abusive methods” carried out by the prosecution. She claimed that prosecutors were “insisting on claiming money earned during my international tours and ‘The Voice’ program” in which she was a judge in the United States, when “I was not yet residing in Spain.”
Shakira was on the singing competition program between 2013 and 2014. Her lawyers say that until 2014 she earned most of her money from international touring, and fully moved to Spain only in 2015 and that she has fulfilled all her tax obligations. She says she has paid 17.2 million euros to the Spanish tax authorities and that she has had “no debt with the Treasury for many years”.
A Barcelona court in May dismissed an appeal by the singer to drop the charges. Shakira was named in one of the largest leaks of financial documents in October 2021, known as the “Pandora Papers,” among public figures linked to offshore assets.
With her mix of Latin and Arabic rhythms and rock influence, the three-time Grammy winner Shakira scored major worldwide hits with songs such as “Hips don’t Lie”, “Whenever, Wherever” and “Waka Waka”, the official song of the 2010 World Cup. In the meantime, a little humor:
