Shakira will go on trial in November for alleged tax fraud

A Spanish court opened a second case against Colombian singer Shakira after a report by the Prosecutor’s Office, which accuses her of defrauding the state treasury in income and property tax for the fiscal year 2018.

As announced on Thursday Supreme Court of Justice of Catalonia (TSJC)the case against the artist, which is being investigated by investigative court number 2 Esplugues de Llobregat (Barcelona)it was opened for two criminal offenses against the state treasury.

Shakiri will stand trial in a Barcelona court from November 20 for an alleged fraud of €14.5m between 2012 and 2014, in another case also brought by Barcelona’s economic crime prosecutor.

In that first open case, the prosecution is asking him for eight years and two months in prison, as well as a fine of 23.8 million euros, for six criminal offenses of tax fraud, because he allegedly avoided paying taxes to the Spanish treasury despite the fact that, according to the public ministry, he had been in Spain since 2012 and had been obliged to pay taxes in that country since then.

In 2018, the fiscal year that gave rise to the lawsuit, the Colombian artist already established her residency in Spain as a result of her relationship with soccer player Gerard Piqué, from whom she split last year, which led to her moving to live in April Miami (United States) with his two sons.

The Tax agency he also discovered other irregularities in his tax settlement for 2018 and forwarded the case to the prosecutor’s office considering that the amount he estimates to have been defrauded exceeds the quota of 120,000 euros, of which tax fraud is considered a criminal offense.

The new open case complicates the criminal scenario for the translator, who has already returned the 14.5 million euros demanded from her by the Tax Administration plus three more interest, but refused the settlement proposed by the Prosecutor’s Office to reduce her sentence in exchange for accepting the facts that were charged against her.

Although the singer, who has always maintained her innocence, has decided to take her chances at trial, she still has time to plead guilty to the charges – which also include the Ministry of Finance and the Catalan tax authorities – by the time she takes the stand.

For now, Barcelona crowdthe start of the trial scheduled for November 20, which would last for 11 more hearings on November 22, 23, 28, 29 and 30 and December 4, 5, 11, 12, 13 and 14.