For avoiding taxes on more than £13 million, Shakira faces a trial in a Spanish court and faces up to eight years in prison. Between 2012 and 2014, the pop singer from Colombia has been accused of defrauding the Spanish Treasury.
Despite living with her then-partner, Barcelona player Gerard Pique, she is accused of claiming she did not live in Spain for three years.
The singer and songwriter, who ventured out to Miami with her two kids recently, may have to carry out upwards of eight years in prison if she is found guilty.
State prosecutors want the mother of two to pay a fine of 23 million euros, or £19.2 million, in addition to the prison term.
A start date for Shakira’s fraud trial has been set after approximately 200 witnesses have testified. Due to the court’s absence on some days, the trial will begin on November 20, 2023, and end on December 14.
However, Shakira’s ex-husband Gerard Pique is unlikely to be called upon to testify.
Shakira will be summoned, but if she testifies from the witness stand at the beginning of the proceedings, she may be allowed to leave.
Hours after former player Pique arrived in Miami to spend time with his children on his first trip to the United States since they left Spain, the trial date was announced.
After just five days together with sons Milan, ten, and Sasha, eight, the 36-year-old is scheduled to return to Barcelona on Monday.
Before leaving Barcelona for her new home in Miami, Shakira harshly criticized Spanish tax officials.
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In November 2022, the Hips Don’t Lie singer guaranteed she was being “mistreated” and accused the Spanish Treasury for using “unsuitable strategies to tarnish her reputation and power her to come to a settlement agreement.”
She stated that she would go to trial and would not enter into any last-minute plea bargains. Additionally, Shakira’s spokesperson stated that she believed the country’s tax officials were “without evidence” claiming that she had left Spain during the years she had been accused of tax fraud.
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Shakira, who was a tax resident of the Bahamas, only registered as a full-time tax resident in Spain in 2015, five years after dating her ex-Pique. For charge reasons, any individual who spends over 183 days in Spain in a schedule year is viewed as a Spanish occupant.
“Shakira is a taxpayer who has always demonstrated impeccable tax conduct and has never had tax problems in any other jurisdiction,” the publicists for Shakira, LLYC, said in a statement in November.
“She never exceeded the 183 days of presence in Spain required to be a tax resident,” it stated.
“With no solid evidence to back up the charges against her, she has been relentlessly pursued in the criminal and media spheres, employing unacceptable methods to harm her reputation and force her to reach a settlement agreement.”
