Prosecutors in Barcelona said on Friday that they would be asking a court to sentence Colombian pop star Shakira to eight years and two months in prison, if she is convicted in her expected trial for alleged tax fraud.
Shakira, 45, whose full name is Shakira Isabel Mebarak Ripoll, is charged with failing to pay the Spanish government €14.5 million in taxes between 2012 and 2014. The prosecutors said they will also seek a fine of €24 million.
The indictment details six charges against the Grammy winner Shakira. The singer this week rejected a settlement deal offered by prosecutors, opting to go to trial instead. A trial date has yet to be set.
Prosecutors say Shakira moved to Spain in 2011 when her relationship with FC Barcelona defender Gerard Piqué became public but maintained official tax residency in the Bahamas until 2015.
Shakira has slammed the ‘complete violation of her rights’ and ‘abusive methods’ by the prosecutors and say they were insisting on claiming money earned during her international tours and the show The Voice, on which she was a judge in the United States, when she was ‘not yet resident in Spain’.
Shakira was on the singing competition show between 2013 and 2014.
Shakira’s defence team argues she moved to Spain full time only in 2015 and has met all tax obligations.
She says she has paid €17.2 million to the Spanish tax authorities and she has had ‘no debt to the treasury for many years’.
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