Colombian superstar Shakira will have to stand for trial in a Spanish court for allegations of tax fraud that are rounding up to about €14.5m (£12.9m).
A Barcelona court has ordered the case to move forward to trial, but a start date has not yet been set for the singer who is to stand trial for 6 alleged tax crimes.
Spanish prosecution has alleged that Shakira has failed to pay her income as well as wealth tax between 2012-2014, currently valued at the amount of about $15.8 million. They claim she lived in Spain for over 183 days yearly between 2011 and 2014. In July, prosecutors handed out a document which claimed that she bought a home in Barcelona in 2012, which came to be a family home for her and her then-partner, Barcelona footballer Gerard Piqué.
Spanish prosecutors want to jail the star for eight years and fine her €23.8m if she is found guilty.
The 45-year-old has continually denied any misconduct stating that she is confident enough that she has proof to support her case and that justice will prevail in her favour.
Her attorneys have commented on her residency status. They stated her official & primary residence during that time was in the Bahamas. They also said that until 2014 a majority of her business came from worldwide tours and she spent a substantial amount of time away from Spain.
According to the current law in Spain, people who spend over six months in the country are considered residents for tax bases. Shakira claims however that Spain was not where she was primarily living during the period.
Shakira‘s legal team said in a statement that they would do their job by presenting their arguments at the appropriate time.
She had previously rejected a deal offered by prosecutors, instead opting to go to trial as they were unable to come to a settlement. Shakira and her team consider this case as an absolute infringement of her rights as she has always shown perfectly good behaviour both as a human and a taxpayer, and has displayed total eagerness to resolve any difference from the beginning, even before the criminal procedure.
Photo by: Daniele Venturelli
In an interview, the Colombian superstar claimed that the Spanish tax authorities saw that she was dating a Spanish citizen and started to get greedy. She claimed that they wanted to go after that money no matter what. She also stated that she had paid everything that they said she owed, even before they were filing a lawsuit. So as of today, she did not owe them at all.
Shakira acknowledged Spain to be her place of dwelling for tax bases in 2015. She announced that she has paid €17.2m in tax and had no outstanding debts as of late.
In another independent case in 2019, Mr Piqué, Shakira’s previous partner, was fined €2.1m by the Spanish nationwide court for avoiding tax between 2008 and 2010.
The couple announced sometime in June that they had split up after 11 years together. They have had two children together, boys aged seven and nine respectively.
Shakira recently spoke about their rift to the press stating that she is going through probably one of the most difficult, challenging and darkest times of her life.
In breaking her silence for the first time to address the rift, Shakira appeared to name another aspect for the bond coming to a stop. She claimed that she was urged to sacrifice her calling for the sake of Pique’s, as well as so she could be with the duo’s youngsters, but that he hadn’t been inclined to do the same for her.
Shakira is a 3 time Grammy winner with multiple of her melodies charting at the very top in various countries, including “La Tortura”, “Hips Don’t Lie”, “Beautiful Liar”, “Waka Waka (This Time for Africa)”, “Loca”, and “Chantaje”.
