Shakira, the “Queen of Latin Pop” and a sensational musician from Colombia, is scheduled to go on trial in Barcelona as Spanish prosecutors seek a tax fraud case against her.
The 46-year-old singer is accused of cheating the Spanish government of 14.5 million euros ($15.7 million) in income between 2012 and 2014, and prosecutors are asking for a sentence of more than eight years in prison. Shakira disputes the allegations, arguing that she didn’t go to Spain permanently until 2015.
Authorities in Spain argue Shakira should have paid taxes in Spain as she lived there for more than half of that time and used a network of companies with tax haven addresses to evade paying taxes in Spain.
Shakira declared, “I’ve paid everything they claimed I owed, even before they filed a lawsuit,” in an interview with Elle magazine in 2022. Thus, as of right now, I owe them nothing.
Shakira’s trial began today in a Barcelona courtroom and is set to go until December 14. There will be close to 120 witnesses in front of the court.
The singer faces a sentence of eight years and two months in prison as well as a fine of around 24 million euros ($24 million) from the prosecution.
Shakira may want to be excused from the subsequent sessions, even though she is slated to testify during the opening session.
It’s expected that the trial will reveal information about her personal life because Spanish prosecutors have been quite thorough in their probe, speaking with neighbors, monitoring her social media accounts, and looking into payments made at nearby businesses.
The world music icon’s financial issues were previously made public when information on her Bahamas house was leaked in the October 2021 “Pandora Papers” leak.
Shakira’s trial comes after football players Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo were among the celebrities in Spain targeted for tax evasion.
The result of this prominent case will be carefully monitored, considering the nation’s recent legal proceedings against well-known individuals for comparable financial issues.
