Shakira: Accused of hiding 14.5 million euros and risks 8 years in prison

In the courts of Spain will be taken the Shakira accused of tax evasionas he allegedly concealed income of €14.5 million from the tax authorities between 2012 and 2014.

As announced on Tuesday (27/9) by the judicial authorities of the country, the date of the trial, which will be held in a Barcelona court, has not yet been determined.

Maintaining her innocence, Shakira, 45, said in late July that she refused to take a plea deal with prosecutors and preferred to go to trial rather than plead guilty. Prosecutors for their part announced a few days later that they would request that the star be sentenced to eight years in prison and fined 24 million euros.

According to the indictment and as reported by the Athens News Agency, Shakira had been living in Spain since 2011, when her relationship with Barcelona footballer Gerard Pique became known. But it kept its tax headquarters in the Bahamas, which are considered a “tax haven”, until 2015.

The couple had two children and in June 2022 announced their separation.

The Colombian star denies the accusations

Shakira claims that until 2014 her income came mainly from her international tours or from her participation in the reality show The Voice in the US and that she did not live more than six months of the year in Spain, so she could transfer her tax residence there the country. He also believes that he is not burdened with any debt since he has already paid 17.2 million euros to the tax authorities.

“These accusations are false,” he insisted last week in an interview with ELLE magazine, asserting that at the time he could not be considered a tax resident of Spain because he was on tour abroad most of the time.

“The tax authorities saw that I was married to a Spanish citizen and they were drooling. It’s clear they wanted the money, not caring how they got it,” he added. “I don’t owe anything” to the tax office and “I have enough evidence to support my position and for a decision to be made in my favor,” she added, explaining that “it was a matter of principle” for her to go to trial.

Shakira’s name is included in the Pandora Papers, a major investigation released in 2021 by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ), in which hundreds of celebrities are accused of hiding assets, mostly through offshore companies, for tax avoidance purposes.