20 nov 2023 om 11:03 Update: 2 uur geleden
Shakira reached a settlement just hours before the start of her trial. The Colombian singer and the Spanish tax authorities have reached an agreement, which means that the lawsuit for tax fraud is now out of the way.
Shakira had to appear in court because she allegedly defrauded the Spanish government of 14.5 million euros. The singer is said to have pretended that she did not live in Spain, but in the Bahamas, so that she did not have to pay Spanish taxes.
According to the Spanish newspaper El Mundo As part of the settlement, Shakira admits that she did commit tax fraud. She had previously denied this. The singer has also accepted a three-year prison sentence. She does not have to serve it because she has no criminal record. However, she must pay a fine of 7.3 million euros.
Shakira thus avoids a lawsuit in which the Spanish tax authorities wanted to prove that Shakira did indeed live in Spain between 2012 and 2014. 117 witnesses would be heard about which places she visited during that period, such as hair and beauty salons.
Shakira reports to Spanish court for tax fraud case
Shakira settled for her children
The singer said in a statement that she had reached a settlement for her own mental health and her children. “Although I was determined to prove my innocence in a case that my lawyers said I would win, I decided to resolve it differently for my children. They do not want to watch their mother give up her personal character in this fight.”
If Shakira had been found guilty, she could have faced up to eight years in prison. But that chance was small, because she had already paid back the overdue amount to the Spanish tax authorities.
Tags: Shakira settles Spanish tax authorities minute jail Backbiting
