The diva strikes back.
Accused of tax evasion in Spain, the Colombian singer Shakira, who claims her innocence, said Wednesday that she refused to seal an agreement with the prosecution and wanted to go to trial.
According to his lawyers, the possibility of reaching an agreement remains open until the opening of the said trial in a Barcelona court while the formal dismissal of the 45-year-old star has not yet been pronounced.
“Absolutely certain of her innocence”,
Shakira does not accept an agreement
“with the prosecution”
and decides to continue the procedure indicated her advice in a press release, affirming that the singer is
“confident in the fact that justice will bring her will be right”
.
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Denouncing a
“total violation of her rights”
and
“abusive methods”
on the part of the prosecution, Shakira affirms in this press release that the Spanish justice “
stubbornly insists on claiming the money collected during my international tours and
(the show)
The Voice”,
of which she was part of the jury in the United States, at a time when she claims not to have been a resident of Spain.
Shakira also argues that she has already paid 17.2 million euros to the Spanish tax authorities and that she therefore has
"no debt to the Treasury for many years"
.
Millions stung
The prosecution accuses the interpreter of the hits
Hips Don't Lie, Waka Waka Loca
of tax fraud of 14.5 million euros for the years 2012, 2013 and 2014. According to the prosecution, the singer had been living in Spain since 2011, when her relationship with FC Barcelona footballer Gerard Pique was made public, but maintained her tax residency in the Bahamas until 2015. The couple, who have two children, announced their separation in June.
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Shakira's lawyers believe that until 2014 most of her income came from her international tours and that she lived no more than six months a year in Spain, a requirement to establish her tax residence in Spain. the country.
In May, a court in Barcelona rejected an appeal from the singer who demanded that the charges be dropped.
Shakira's name is among those cited in the Pandora Papers, a vast investigation published at the end of 2021 by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists, accusing several hundred personalities of having concealed assets in offshore companies, in particular for the purpose of 'tax evasion.