Shakira has been indicted on allegations of tax evasion. She allegedly failed to pay $15 million in taxes to the Spanish government between 2012 and 2014. Because she rejected the fraud case, the Spanish prosecutor is now asking for a prison sentence of eight years and two months and a fine of around 24 million dollars.
On September 27, the presiding judge announced that the case would now be heard in court. The indictment contains six counts of charges against Shakira. Since she lived in Spain for more than half of the year from 2012 to 2014, she should have paid taxes, the prosecutor said. The singer, on the other hand, argued that her tax residency during this period was in the Bahamas.
Shakira is sure of her innocence
In a statement, Shakira’s representative said that she has “always cooperated and obeyed the law by displaying impeccable conduct as an individual and as a taxpayer, faithfully following the advice of PriceWaterhouse Coopers, a well-respected and globally recognized tax advisory firm.” is”.
They added: “Unfortunately, losing one of two lawsuits with its taxpayers, the Spanish tax authorities continue to violate their rights and pursue another baseless case. Shakira is confident that her innocence will be proven by the end of the trial.”
Now the singer herself spoke up. In an interview for Elle, she said, “I paid for everything they claimed before they even filed a lawsuit. So, as of today, I don’t owe them anything. And finally, I was advised by one of the four largest tax advisory firms in the world, PricewaterhouseCoopers, so I was sure from day one that I was doing everything correctly and transparently”.
“The Spanish tax authorities are known for reputation damage”
She also spoke of an intentional “damage to reputation” that the authorities aimed at many celebrities: “But even without evidence to support these fictitious claims, they resorted to a salacious press campaign, as usual, to try to make people influence and pressurize the media, along with threats of reputational damage, in order to force settlement agreements. It is well known that the Spanish tax authorities do not only apply this to celebrities like me (or [Cristiano] Ronaldo Neymar [Xabi] Alonso and many others) often do, but also wrongly for ordinary taxpayers. It’s just her style. But I am confident that I have enough evidence to support my case and that justice will be in my favor.”
Before the lawsuit began, Shakira’s PR team said she had paid the amount she was asking for, plus $3 million in interest. Apparently, this has not yet been confirmed by the Spanish public prosecutor’s office, because the criminal case against Shakira is still ongoing. Just weeks before the charges were upheld, the singer released her new single “DON’T YOU WORRY,” which she co-produced with Farruko, Black Eyed Peas and David Quetta. Her current album EL DORADO was released in 2017.