Shakira faces new fraud claims amid claims she owes Spanish government over £5m
Shakira has been accused of defrauding the Spanish treasury out of £5.75 million (6.6 million euros) by prosecutors who asked a court to investigate her for new tax breaches.
The 46-year-old singer-songwriter is due to go on trial on November 20 for six counts of tax fraud she allegedly committed in 2012, 2013 and 2014. It first emerged in July she was facing a new tax probe linked to alleged irregularities in her tax returns for 2018. A court near Barcelona said an investigation had been opened at the request of state prosecutors. On Tuesday, the amount of money they are accusing her of defrauding as part of their new allegations against the Colombian mum-of-two was made public.
Reports in Spain said prosecutors were claiming she had failed to declare just over £13 million (15 million euros) in income and claimed false deductions totalling around £5.5 million (6.5 million euros). Respected Spanish daily El Mundo, one of several papers which offered more details today about the prosecution allegations against Shakira, also reported she was being accused of using companies in offshore tax havens for the alleged tax fraud. Prosecutors are said to have asked the investigating judge to summon her for questioning via videolink from her new home in the States.
The Colombian singer has been accused of further tax breaches (WireImage)Shakira is facing up to eight years in prison if convicted of the six counts of tax fraud totalling £12.6 million (14.5 million euros) she is facing trial for from November 20 at a court in Barcelona. She has denied any wrongdoing and insisted she will fight the accusations levied against her in court instead of seeking a last-minute deal with Spanish state prosecutors. The new tax probe is being conducted by a judge at a court in Esplugues de Llobregat, the same court which launched the earlier investigation which resulted in the artist being ordered to stand trial later this year.
A spokesman for Catalonia’s High Court of Justice said in July: “Court of Instruction Number 2 in Esplugues de Llobregat has opened a procedure following a complaint presented by prosecutors against the singer Shakira for two suspected tax crimes related to income tax and wealth tax for the Spanish tax year of 2018.”
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Her legal advisors reacted in a statement released at the time by saying: “Shakira has not received any formal notification of the Prosecutor’s complaint that has been, according to the media, filed for the fiscal year 2018.
“Once again, as has been the case for the past several years, it is through the media that the singer has found out about the filing of this lawsuit, proving the public and reputational pressure to which she is being subjected.
She left Spain after splitting from partner Gerard Pique last year (Euroleague Basketball via Getty Images)“The singer's legal team will not make any comments until the notification reaches them through the official and legally established channels. As it is publicly known, and as the Spanish Treasury was officially notified, Shakira is now living in Miami, so she must be notified personally at her new address in strict accordance with the provisions of the Law. As she has already affirmed on numerous occasions, Shakira defends having always acted in accordance with the law and under the advice of the best tax experts. She is now focused on her life as an artist in Miami and is confident that there will be a favorable resolution of her tax issues.”
Before leaving Barcelona for Miami at the start of April following her acrimonious split from former footballer Gerard Pique, Shakira delivered a stinging attack on Spanish tax authorities after it emerged she would be put on trial over the alleged offences committed between 2012 and 2014. She claimed she was being “persecuted” and accused the Spanish Treasury of using “unacceptable methods to damage her reputation and force her to come to a settlement agreement.” She insisted she had no intention of making any last-minute plea bargain deals and would go to trial.
The couple share two sons - Milan and Sasha (Corbis via Getty Images)A spokesman for the Colombian artist also made it clear she felt the country’s tax authorities were accusing her of lying about residing outside of Spain “without evidence” for the years she had been charged with tax fraud. Shakira, previously tax resident in the Bahamas, only registered as a full-time tax resident in Spain in 2015 despite starting to date her ex Gerard Pique five years earlier. People who spend more than 183 days in a given calendar year in Spain are considered Spanish residents for tax purposes.
Spanish tax inspectors reportedly spent more than a year checking up on Shakira, even visiting her favourite hairdressers in Barcelona and checking her social media to try to show she spent most of the three years in dispute in Spain. They allege she had spent 242 days in Spain in 2012, 212 days in 2013 and 243 days in the country in 2014 before indicting her with six counts of tax fraud for those three years. A statement released by Shakira’s Barcelona-based publicists LLYC last November and authorised by Shakira said: “Shakira is a taxpayer who has always shown impeccable tax conduct and has never had tax problems in any other jurisdiction.
“The singer relied on top advisors such as PriceWaterhouseCoopers. She never exceeded the 183 days of presence in Spain required to be a tax resident. With no solid evidence to support the charges against her, she has been fiercely persecuted in the criminal and media spheres using unacceptable methods to damage her reputation and force her to come to a settlement agreement.”
November 20 has been scheduled as the date for the beginning of Shakira’s tax trial, to take place over 12 sessions. The last day of open court would be December 14 as court will not sit some days. The wealth tax in Spain is an annual tax payable on the total net value of assets held on December 31. Spanish tax residents pay tax on their worldwide assets.
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