Pop star Shakira is threatened with proceedings in Spain for alleged tax evasion of 14.5 million euros.
A judge has ruled that there is “sufficient evidence” that the Colombian pop star will be brought to justice after being charged with six criminal offenses by Spanish prosecutors.
After three years of investigation, the judge comes to the conclusion that there is “sufficient evidence” that the Colombian artist has been guilty of evading the payment of 14.5 million euros.
Prosecutors have charged Shakira with a total of six tax offenses which, if convicted, could result in jail time.
As reported by Euro Weekly News, Isabel Mebarak Ripoll [the singer’s real name] in 2012, 2013 and 2014 no longer paid taxes in Spain, although she was obliged to do so because she has her tax residence here, “says the head of the court of first instance and instruction no), Marco Jesús Juberías.
The singer claimed from the start of the investigation that she had been in the Bahamas during these years and only visited Spain “sporadically”. But this thesis has been questioned again and again by the tax inspectors who examined their life in Barcelona with the former Barcelona footballer Gerard Piqué.
“The important thing is not so much the residence in the Bahamas, but whether Shakira can be considered a tax resident in Spain,” says the defense report, which was written by two professors of finance and tax law.
Shakira, the judge said, would have had to pay 14.5 million euros in income tax and corporation tax.