The singer, with two pending tax cases in Spain, accepted at the last minute a deal that had been on the table for a year and a half
When Shakira took the stage at the Palacio de Congresos to accept the Latin Grammy for Best Pop Song, along with Bizarrap, she had already made a decision that she had, in fact, been meditating on for the last five years of her life. “I want to dedicate it to my children, because I have promised them that I will be happy” said the Colombian singer, who verbally expressed her desire to heal the wounds of her breakup with Gerard Pique (featured in the award-winning song’s lyrics). But the message also had another meaning: Shakira was going to close, also for her children, the court case for defrauding the State of 14.5 million.
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The day after the event, Shakira met in Barcelona with her lawyers. She told them that she wanted to be happy for the sake of Milan and Sasha, and that she no longer wished, as she had maintained until that moment, to go to trial. And he instructed them to close a deal, which had been on the table, in fact, for a year and a half, when a first negotiation between the parties ended in failure.
There are almost no differences between the original draft agreement proposed in the summer of 2022 and the written agreement sealed last Monday in a Barcelona court. Shakira did not accept it at the time, partly because Pique insisted on fighting and because she preferred to keep her options open until the end.
Until the day after the Grammy Awards, her lawyers were preparing for the trial as usual. They were confident of a victory, like the one they achieved in the case of former motorcyclist Sito Pons, who is also accused of not paying taxes while being a tax resident of Spain. In court – that day – 12 sessions were scheduled and the appearance of 117 witnesses who maintained professional and personal relationships with the singer between 2012 and 2014, when according to the prosecution she was already living in Barcelona. The lawyer MÃriam Company remained more than a week in Miami, where the artist lives with her children, preparing her testimony that was to take place at the first session, last Monday. Shakira could then return to the United States and watch the trial, if she wished, with the help of telematics.
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The possibility of a last-minute deal had never left her sight. But Shakira’s landing in Spain, just days before the Grammy Awards, made this choice gravitate. The singer told her lawyers her misgivings had more to do with the trial’s media exposure and damage to her career than fear of losing. After warning them that he could change his mind at any time, he asked them to negotiate the deal discreetly.
Shakira considered her options and, according to a report in “El Pais”, spoke with personalities from the world of music, who advised her to agree and close a case that, as she later expressed, had been “stolen” from her. her time and peace of mind, since, in 2018, the Prosecutor’s Office filed the lawsuit. He went ahead with the deal reluctantly and at the last minute, which wasn’t a problem since all parties already knew what the terms of a potential deal were. The prosecution was not going to back down.
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Accepting the prosecution’s “story,” Shakira became a tax evader (the sentence is final), but she avoided trial and saw her prison sentence and fine reduced. The prosecution had initially requested a total prison sentence of eight years and two months and a fine of 23.5 million euros.
Apart from the money, the other key point of the deal was what to do with the prison sentence. The possibility of Shakira ending up behind bars was remote, almost impossible. But it remained to be seen whether the execution of this sentence would be suspended or replaced by a fine – this is a very technical issue, but one with real-life consequences. Generally, when prison sentences are less than two years and there is no criminal record, judges and courts suspend their execution on the condition that no further crimes are committed within a certain period of time. In the case of Shakira, however, the sentence was not suspended, but replaced by the payment of a fine of 432,000 euros. Substitution is no longer provided for in the current wording of the Criminal Code, but was in place when the events occurred.
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She was also fined by the tax authorities for tax evasion in Spain in 2011, a year in which she made huge profits from her Sale el Sol world tour. Shakira was forced to pay the 60 million euro fine in order to appeal a case she described as “nonsense”. Although the sentence for the €14.5m fraud includes an admission that he has lived in Spain since 2012, it will have no effect on that appeal, which is already awaiting a decision from the National Court.
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Shakira also faces a second criminal case for alleged tax fraud in Spain, which has just begun. Prosecutors have filed a lawsuit against her for evading six million euros in taxes in 2018 through a “network of companies,” which allowed her to transfer her music rights to shell companies. Shakira thus avoided including a portion of the millions in revenue she earned from her El Dorado music tour, which saw her perform 53 concerts that year in Europe, the United States and Latin America. The Prosecutor’s Office, for now, has asked Interpol to be notified of the lawsuit and the subpoena. It is predictable that, this time, Shakira will testify from Miami and will not have to travel to Barcelona.
Source :Skai
I am Frederick Tuttle, who works in 247 News Agency as an author and mostly cover entertainment news. I have worked in this industry for 10 years and have gained a lot of experience. I am a very hard worker and always strive to get the best out of my work. I am also very passionate about my work and always try to keep up with the latest news and trends.
