Shakira faces a new legal battle in Spain: What is she accused of now?
The Colombian singer is already facing an investigation for alleged tax evasion of more than 14 million euros.
A Spanish court opened a second case against Colombian singer Shakira following a complaint from the Prosecutor’s Office, which accuses her of defrauding the Treasury in income tax and wealth taxes for the 2018 tax year.
As reported Thursday by the Superior Court of Justice of Catalonia (TSJC), the case against the artist, which investigates the investigating court number 2 of Esplugues de Llobregat (Barcelona), is open for two offenses against the Treasury.
Shakira will be tried from next November 20 at the Barcelona Court for allegedly defrauding 14.5 million euros between the years 2012 and 2014, in another case that was also initiated by a complaint of the Prosecutor’s Office for Economic Crimes of Barcelona.
In that first open case, the Prosecutor’s Office asks her for eight years and two months in prison, as well as a fine of 23.8 million euros, for six crimes of tax fraud, for allegedly evading the payment of taxes to the Spanish Treasury despite the fact that, according to the Public Prosecutor’s Office, she had been residing in Spain since 2012 and was obliged since then to pay taxes in this country.
In 2018, the tax year that motivated the complaint, the Colombian artist had already established her residence in Spain as a result of her relationship with footballer Gerard Piqué, from whom she separated last year, which prompted her to move to live in Miami (United States) with her two children in April.
The Tax Agency detected other irregularities in her 2018 tax liquidation and referred the case to the Prosecutor’s Office given that the amount it estimates defrauded exceeds the quota of 120,000 euros above which a tax fraud is considered a crime.
The new open case complicates the criminal scenario for the interpreter, who already returned the 14.5 million euros demanded by the Tax Agency plus another three million euros of interest, but rejected the agreement proposed by the Prosecutor’s Office to reduce the penalty in exchange for accepting the facts imputed to her.
Although the singer, who has always maintained that she is innocent, decided to take a gamble in the trial, she still has time to reach an agreement with the accusations – which also include the Treasury and the Catalan Tax Agency – until the moment she sits in the dock.
For the moment, the Barcelona Court of Appeals has set November 20 as the date for the start of the trial, which will continue for another 11 sessions on November 22, 23, 28, 29, and 30, and December 4, 5, 11, 12, 13 and 14.