Shakira will be tried for tax fraud in Spain

AFP

Colombian pop star Shakira, 45, will face trial in Barcelona for alleged tax fraud on a date yet to be determined, according to a Spanish court order released on Tuesday.

“It is agreed to open the trial at the Provincial Court of Barcelona against Shakira Isabel Mebarak Ripoll, as the alleged author” of six crimes against the Public Treasury, indicates the order of a court on the outskirts of Barcelona dated September 19.

The court did not impose any injunctive relief until the trial. In late July, the Public Ministry asked for more than eight years in prison and a fine of almost R$124 million (US$23.1 million) for Shakira, accused of having defrauded R$75 million (US$14 million) of the Spanish treasure between 2012 and 2014.

The Public Ministry accuses Shakira of having used a “corporate network” created years before to avoid paying taxes in Spain in 2012, 2013 and 2014, despite already residing in the country more than the 183 days a year stipulated by law.

The artist, known for international hits like “Waka Waka”, “Hips don’t lie” and “Chantaje”, has always denied the allegations. “These accusations are false,” Shakira said in an interview published on September 21 by Elle magazine, in which she said she had “the confidence to have done things in the most correct and transparent way from day one.”

The public prosecutor and the singer’s defense sought an agreement to avoid the trial, but in July Shakira gave up that possibility, showing that she was confident “that justice will give her reason”, according to her legal representatives in Barcelona, ​​where the star resides.

“The Public Ministry made an effort to collect the money earned in the [suas] international tours and on ‘The Voice’, the American television program on which she was a judge, at a time when she was “not yet a resident of Spain”, denounced her representatives at the time.

SHAKIRA ACCUSES THE PROSECUTION OFFICE

In an interview with Elle, Shakira accused the Spanish Treasury of resorting to “a lewd press campaign to try to influence people and pressure the media along with the threat of reputational damage to force compromise deals”.

“Everyone knows that the Spanish tax authorities usually do this not only with well-known people like me, or [Cristiano] Ronaldo, Neymar, [Xabi] Alonso and many more), but also unfairly to other anonymous contributors,” added the singer.

The Public Ministry alleges that Shakira had lived in Spain since at least the 2012 fiscal year, shortly after her relationship with FC Barcelona player Gerard Piqué was disclosed, but she maintained until 2015 her tax residency in the Bahamas, considered a haven. Supervisor. The couple, who have two children, announced their separation in June.

Shakira appeared in the so-called Pandora Papers, an extensive investigation of millions of leaked documents published in 2021 by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists, which accused hundreds of personalities of having resorted to tax havens, mainly to evade the Treasury.