Shakira is experiencing a carousel of emotions on her last visit to Spain. After triumphing at the Latin Grammy gala and dedicating the award to her children, Milan and Sasha, to whom she has promised to “be happy” and “laugh”, this Monday she has to go to the courts. She begins the trial for allegedly defrauding the Treasury of 14.5 million euros between 2012 and 2014, for which the Prosecutor’s Office is asking her for eight years and two months in prison, in addition to a fine of 23.8 million.
The Barcelona Court has planned thirteen trial sessions that will involve eight experts and more than a hundred witnesses, including neighbors, workers at the artist’s beauty center, and specialist doctors who followed up on the artist’s first pregnancy. singer, Zumba or ‘fitness’ teachers, as well as Antonio de la Rúa, the Colombian’s ex-partner; José and David Muñoz, from Estopa; Fernando Olvera, singer of Maná, or chef Hideki Matsuhisa. The testimonies will seek to clarify the time that Shakira spent in Spain during the first years of her relationship with former soccer player Gerard Piqué, father of her two children, and who has not been proposed as a witness.
Thus, before traveling to Seville to enjoy the music awards, the Colombian artist was in Madrid with her team of lawyers who are working against the clock to reach an agreement with the Prosecutor’s Office and the State Attorney’s Office, as the footballer Lionel Messi. Something that at the beginning of the investigation, she had refused to accept. In the event of an agreement, Shakira would have to recognize the facts and pay a large amount of money. In exchange, she would obtain a reduction in her prison sentence to less than two years, meaning that, since she had no criminal record, she would not have to go to jail.
«Corporate framework»
In the trial this Monday in Barcelona, the Public Ministry considers that Shakira actually spent 242 days in Spain in 2012, 212 in 2013 and 243 in 2014, always more than the 183 days for which, according to current legislation, considers tax residence in the country, which requires taxation on all income, regardless of where it was obtained. The Prosecutor’s Office points out that, to avoid paying taxes in Spain, the artist “used a corporate network” based in the British Virgin Islands, Cayman Islands, Malta, Panama and Luxembourg.
The defense, for its part, claims to have “reliable” evidence that Shakira was a tax resident of the Bahamas from 2004 until the end of 2014, when she moved to Barcelona with Gerard Piqué. Furthermore, the Colombian went so far as to assure that the Treasury was carrying out a media campaign against her with “a desire to collect money” and with “exemplary purposes for the rest of Spanish taxpayers.”
However, this is not the only procedure open to the singer, who will also have to be held accountable in the Investigative Court number 2 of Esplugues de Llobregat for allegedly defrauding more than six million euros in personal income tax and wealth tax returns. in 2018 through a corporate network. A trial that could also be affected by an agreement with the Prosecutor’s Office, if carried out.
#Shakira #faces #years #prison #tax #fraud #possibility #pact #making