In addition to a prison sentence of about eight months, the prosecutors in the case also want to fine the singer 24 million euros. According to the judiciary, there is indeed tampering with residences and companies in order to evade income tax on a large scale. The singer is fighting the allegations and has previously rejected a settlement in the lingering case.
A judge in Esplugues de Llobregat near Barcelona has announced that the criminal trial will start there, but did not give a date for a hearing. Shakira, 45, says she did nothing wrong because, according to her reading, she was not living in Spain at the time and therefore no income tax was due. But according to Spanish media, she has now paid the money that the service demands, 14.5 million euros in arrears of tax money and 3 million euros in interest. As a result, if Shakira is found guilty, a possible sentence will likely be much lower than the prosecutors demand.
According to the prosecutors, the singer has hidden income from the Spanish tax authorities with a network of at least fourteen companies. She is said to have spent more than half of every year in Spain during the years 2012-2014. Shakira’s lawyers say she lived in the Bahamas and only moved to Spain in 2015. She was in a relationship with Spanish footballer Gerard Piqué from 2011 to 2022, who is from Barcelona and plays for FC Barcelona. According to prosecutors, Shakira once bought a house in the Bahamas, but she would not have been there for a day in the 2012-2014 tax years.