Simon Hunter
BACK in November of last year, Colombian singing superstar Shakira reached a deal with Spain’s authorities and the public prosecutor that saw her avoid jail time in a tax fraud case. Now, some six months later, it looks as if a second case against her may be shelved.
Judicial sources in Barcelona today told Spanish news agency Efe that the public prosecutor has filed a written request to the judge in charge of the case to dismiss the charges, which accused the 47-year-old of having avoided paying €6.6 million in tax in 2018 to the Spanish Tax Agency.
The original accusations from the public prosecutor claimed that she had taken advantage of a web of companies, including a firm located in Luxembourg, to avoid paying what she owed.
The prosecutor stated that she had filed inaccurate income tax returns, in which she failed to declare earnings, as well as deducting undue costs, thus reducing her tax burden.
But now the prosecutor has found that there is insufficient evidence to prove that she defrauded the amount of more than €6 million, during a year when she was still residing in Barcelona with her now ex-partner, Gerard Pique, and their two young children.
The case is likely to be shelved by the courts and will now be resolved directly with the Tax Agency, which will be able to reclaim any outstanding payments should there be any.
This second case came to light last summer, while Shakira’s legal team was in the midst of negotiations to resolve the first.
In November, after long drawn-out legal proceedings, she agreed to pay a fine of €7.8 million after reaching a deal with the prosecutor in Barcelona as well as the Tax Agency for having evaded €14.5 million between 2012 and 2014.
The case originated because Shakira had claimed that during that time she was not a tax resident in Spain, and therefore had no obligations.
She has always denied any wrongdoing but eventually agreed to a deal.
The agreement meant that she would not be facing jail time, but rather was slapped with a suspended three-year sentence and the aforementioned fine, rather than the more than eight years in prison and €23.8 million fine that she was originally looking at.
Once the second case has been officially shelved, the legal problems that Shakira has been facing in Spain for years will finally be over.
The singer is now living in Miami with her two children, after she reached an agreement with former Barcelona FC football star Gerard Pique over their separation.
