Shakira faces jail term in Spanish over tax fraud allegations

• Shakira is being accused of defrauding the Spanish state of 14.5million euros in income earned between 2012 and 2014
• The Spanish authorities claimed that Shakira utilized a network of companies based in tax havens to avoid paying tax

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Renowned Colombian singer Shakira is currently facing the possibility of a jail term in Spain due to alleged tax fraud.

The Colombian superstar, is entangled in a legal battle that could have severe consequences on her personal and professional life.

Prosecutors are demanding a prison sentence of more than eight years for the 46-year-old singer, accusing her of cheating the Spanish state of 14.5 million euros ($15.7 million) in revenue received between 2012 and 2014. Shakira dismisses the allegations, claiming that she only moved to Spain full-time in 2015.

Authorities in Spain assert that Shakira should have paid taxes in Spain as she spent more than half of that time there and used a network of businesses with tax haven addresses to evade paying taxes there.

The singer’s defense claims that until 2014, she had a “nomadic life,” receiving the majority of her money from overseas tours, and that she moved permanently to Barcelona soon before the birth of her second son in January 2015.

A Barcelona court opened Shakira’s trial today. It is expected to go on till December 14, with Nearly 120 witnesses scheduled to testify in court.

The singer faces a sentence of eight years and two months in prison as well as a fine of around 24 million euros ($24 million) from the prosecution.

Shakira may want to be excused from the subsequent sessions, even though she is slated to testify during the opening session.

It’s expected that the trial will reveal information about her personal life because Spanish prosecutors have been quite thorough in their probe, speaking with neighbors, monitoring her social media accounts, and looking into payments made at nearby businesses.

Previous information about Shakira’s financial situation was made public by the October 2021 “Pandora Papers” leak, which included information about her Bahamas house.

Shakira’s trial is taking place, following Spain’s campaign against celebrity tax avoidance, which included football players Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo

Given the recent legal actions in the nation against well-known individuals for comparable financial concerns, the result of this high-profile case will be widely monitored.

Shakira claimed in an interview with Elle magazine in 2022: “I’ve paid everything they claimed I owed, even before they filed a lawsuit. So, as of today, I owe zero to them.”