Tax Evasion: Shakira nears trial

Barcelona | The trial date of the Colombian star Shakira, accused of tax evasion of 14.5 million euros (about 20 million Canadian dollars), is approaching, after an appeal was rejected by the Spanish judiciary, according to what the latter announced Thursday.

A court in Barcelona has announced that it has rejected an appeal of the 45-year-old singer who asked to have the charges dropped, claiming that she did not reside in Spain during the years when she was accused of fraud, but in the Bahamas.

“It can be considered that the applicant has had a habitual residence in Spain,” the court said in a statement, as “the documents submitted to prove that the tax residence was in another country did not appear to be sufficient.”

Therefore, the trial seems closer and closer to the translator of successes Hips don’t lie, waka waka where Luca. But the prosecution still has to file the indictment while the judge has to decide on Shakira’s formal referral to court.

“Shakira’s behavior in tax matters has always been above reproach in all countries where she has had to pay her taxes,” the singer’s lawyers said in a statement.

They added that she “did not owe the Spanish tax authorities and proceeded to pay the amounts (claimed by the tax authorities) as soon as she became aware of the amount.”

Prosecutors accuse the singer of tax fraud amounting to 14.5 million euros for the years 2012, 2013 and 2014.

According to the prosecution, she has been living in Spain since 2011, the year her relationship with Barcelona footballer Gerard Pique was made public, but she maintained her tax residency in the Bahamas, considered a tax haven, until 2015.

Her lawyers say that until 2014, most of her income came from her international tours and that she lives no more than six months a year in Spain, a requirement to establish her tax residency in the country.

Shakira’s name is among the names mentioned in the Pandora Papers, a broad investigation published at the end of 2021 by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists, accusing several hundred figures of hiding assets in offshore companies, in particular for the purpose of ‘tax evasion’.

The world star, who has sold more than 60 million records, currently resides in the outskirts of Barcelona, ​​with Gerard Pique and their two children.