Celebrity
Shakira Could Face 8 Years In A Spanish Prison Over An ‘£13 Million Tax Fraud’ Case
Shakira is accused of dodging tax between 2014 and 2014 while staying in Barcelona.
A Spanish judge at an investigating court in Esplugues de Llobregat has ordered Shakira to stand trial over a £12.9million tax fraud. The decision follows a confirmation that the singer had rejected an out-of-court deal that was believed to have involved her admitting wrongdoing after she was charged with defrauding the Spanish treasury over a three-year period.
The 45-Year-Old had first been warned in July she could be jailed for up to 8 years after being charged with 6 counts of tax fraud.
The date of the trial she’s ordered to stand in for hasn’t yet been set, but it’s expected to take place in the coming months. Shakira, whose full name is Shakira Isabel Mebarak Ripoll, as per the prosecution indictment, submitted earlier this year is accused of faking to live abroad and using a complex offshore corporate structure.
The offshore corporate structure is said to be used to avoid meeting her tax obligations despite being in a relationship with former Man Utd defender Gerard Pique & moving to Barcelona.
It’s alleged the artist, previously a tax resident in the Bahamas, only registered as a full tax resident in Spain in 2015. And people who spent over 183 days in a given calendar year are considered Spanish residents for tax purposes. Tax inspectors spent over a year checking up on Shakira, visiting her hairdresser’s salon and her media pages to show she spent most of three years in Spain’s dispute.
It was concluded she had spent 242 days in Spain in 2012, 212 days in 2013, and 243 days in 2014.
The report also pointed out that Shakira’s time out of Spain was sporadic absences linked to work commitments. Her PR Firm, Llorentie Y Cuenca, said in a statement, “She believes in her [Shakira] innocence and has opted to leave the issue in the hands of the law.” However, the mom-of-two has paid the six-figure sum the Spanish taxman claims she defrauded along with interest, totaling £2.67M.
But state prosecutors still want her to receive an eight-year prison sentence if found guilty as charged at trial.
On the other hand, she had split from Pique after 11 years together amid unconfirmed reports the footballer cheated. The ex-couple has been spending the last few months discussing the future of their two children because the singer wants to relocate to Miami with them. Now, Pique has a new GF, a 23-Year-Old Shakira lookalike named Clara Chia.
Following the split, Shakira broke her silence in a recent interview with Elle Magazine, saying music is like therapy during her darkest hours.
