Shakira speaks up against tax allegations
In her first public remarks regarding a case that might result in her serving up to eight years in prison, Shakira vowed to fight what she called “false” accusations by Spanish authorities that she avoided paying 14.5 million euros ($14.31 million) in taxes.
Shakira, 45, is currently being tried in Spain on charges of not paying taxes between 2012 and 2014, a time frame during which she claimed to be living a “nomadic existence” due to her career.
The singer of “Hips don’t lie” told Elle magazine in an interview that was published online in the United States on Wednesday and is scheduled to appear in its October print edition, “I have to fight for what I believe since these are baseless charges. I owe them nothing.”
Shakira speaks up against tax allegations
According to a prosecutor’s document obtained by Reuters, Shakira purchased a family house in Barcelona in May 2012 and spent more than half of each year in Spain between 2012 and 2014. A Spanish judge declared “sufficient evidence” for Shakira to go on trial in July of last year. In May, she attempted to appeal the ruling, but a second judge dismissed it.
Shakira claims that the authorities only pursued her “with their eyes on the prize” after learning that she was dating Spanish soccer player Gerard Pique of FC Barcelona. Shakira rejected a plea agreement with the prosecutor in July.
“I was on a world tour while Gerard and I began dating. I was unable to qualify as a resident because I had spent more than 240 days outside of Spain,” she spoke.
“When the Spanish tax officials learned I was dating a Spanish citizen, they began to drool. It’s obvious that they were determined to obtain that cash,” the performer asserted.
Before they launched a case, Shakira said, she had already paid the amount the Spanish tax authority claimed she owed.
She claimed the Spanish government “resorted to a lurid publicity campaign” to harm her reputation even though she was convinced she had acted right and transparently from the start.
She was going through “perhaps the saddest hour of my life” due to her recent split with Pique, a custody dispute over their two kids, the condition of her father, and “fighting on many fronts,” the singer claimed.
