Accused of having evaded 14.5 million euros from the Spanish Treasury between 2012 and 2014, the Colombian star Shakira will be tried for tax evasion, the Spanish judicial authorities announced on Tuesday.
The date of this trial to be held before the Provincial Court of Barcelona (northeast Spain) has not yet been set.
Claiming her innocence, Shakira, 45, had made it known at the end of July that she refused to seal a plea deal, saying she preferred a trial to this plea procedure.
The prosecution had indicated a few days later that it would request a sentence of more than eight years in prison and a fine of almost 24 million euros against the interpreter of the hits Hips do not lie, waka waka Where crazy.
Tax haven
According to the prosecution, Shakira had lived in Spain since 2011, when her relationship with FC Barcelona footballer Gerard Piqué was made public, but had maintained her tax residence in the Bahamas Islands, considered a tax haven, until 2015.
The couple, who have two children, announced their separation in June.
Shakira’s defense affirms that until 2014 her income came mainly from her international tours or her participation in the show The voice in the United States and that he did not reside more than six months a year in Spain, a necessary condition to establish his tax residence in the country.
The star further claimed that she had already paid €17.2 million to the Spanish tax authorities and therefore no longer owed him any debt.
“I owe nothing” to the tax collector
“These accusations are false,” Shakira hammered last week in an interview with ELLE magazine, assuring that at that time she was on tour for most of the year and therefore could not be considered a tax resident in Spain.
“The Treasury saw that I was in a relationship with a Spanish citizen and began to salivate. It was clear they wanted that money no matter how they were going to do it,” she added.
“I don’t owe anything” to the treasury “and I’m sure I have enough evidence to support my case and that justice rules in my favor,” said the singer again, for whom going to trial “is a matter of principle.”
Shakira’s name is also among those cited in the Pandora Papers, a wide-ranging investigation published at the end of 2021 by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists, which accuses several hundred personalities of having hidden assets in offshore companies, in particular for financial purposes. of tax evasion.
Source: BFM TV
