Colombian pop star Shakira has been fined €7.3 million and given a three-year suspended prison sentence after striking a last-minute deal in her Spanish tax fraud case.
The 46-year-old’s settlement, reached on Monday after having maintained her innocence for nearly five years, means she will avoid trial in Barcelona over charges she failed to pay €14.5 million in Spanish income tax.
The fraud was committed between 2012 and 2014, a period in which Shakira had claimed she was not a resident of Spain despite having made her family home in Barcelona along with then-partner Gerard Piqué, a former footballer player.
Prosecutors had planned to call 117 witnesses at the trial to discuss their interactions with the singer with the aim of demonstrating that she had spent more than six months of each of those years in Spain and was therefore a tax resident.
Her official residence during that period was in the Bahamas, where tax rates are much lower than in Spain.
The list of witnesses included hairdressers, dance teachers, therapists, beauticians, gynaecologists and her chauffeur.
The multiple Grammy and Latin Grammy winner, whose full name is Shakira Isabel Mebarak Ripoll, appeared in a Barcelona courtroom on Monday morning to confirm she admitted to the charges against her and accepted the newly negotiated penalties.
“Yes,” she told the judge.
The singer, who has two sons from her relationship with Mr Piqué, said in a statement that she had been confident of winning the case but had decided to avoid putting herself and her children through a lengthy legal battle under the glare of the media.
She added she had chosen to “prioritise her career and stability and that of her children” by putting an end to the process and “thus avoiding the impact of media exposure and the trial time, which is often of an exhausting length”.
Shakira had consistently denied the accusations and criticised Spanish authorities for what she saw as a persecutory campaign against her and the wealth she had earned by performing around the world.
She turned down a deal offered to her by prosecutors to settle her case in July 2022, the details of which were not made public.
“The Spanish tax authorities saw that I was dating a Spanish citizen and started to salivate. It’s clear they wanted to go after that money no matter what,” the singer said in an interview last year.
“They knew I wasn’t in Spain the required time, that Spain wasn’t my place of work or my source of income, but they still came after me with their eyes on the prize.”
Shakira, who now lives in Miami having ended her relationship with Mr Piqué last year, faces a further accusation of defrauding Spain’s tax office of €6 million in 2018.
After triumphing at the Latin Grammy Awards gala in Seville on Thursday, where she was presented with a prize by Sergio Ramos, the former Real Madrid star, Shakira thanked her fans in Spain for “being with me in the good times and the bad”.
Spain has cracked down on high-profile tax evasion in recent years, targeting football players such as Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo, among others.
The former Barcelona and Real Madrid stars were found guilty of evasion but both avoided prison time after their sentences were suspended.
Elaine Hadley is a dedicated journalist covering the ever-evolving landscape of U.S. news. With a keen interest in politics and a commitment to uncovering the truth, she provides insightful commentary and in-depth analysis on domestic issues. When not reporting, Elaine enjoys exploring the diverse cultures and landscapes of the United States.
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