Shakira Is Going to Trial for Tax Evasion and Authorities Are Calling for an 8-Year Sentence

Just weeks after Shakira announced her separation from Spanish soccer player Gerard Piqué, Spain’s government has accused the Colombian singer of tax evasion. On Wednesday, Shakira’s lawyers rejected a proposed plea deal and decided to take the case to court. Now, Spanish prosecutors have announced that they are seeking a fine of 24 million euros and an eight-year prison sentence.

According to the AFP, prosecutors believe Shakira defrauded the government out of 14.5 million euros on the income she earned between 2012 and 2014. The news agency added that the singer moved to Spain in 2011, after her marriage to Piqué, but maintained official tax residency in the Bahamas until 2015. Her lawyers said Wednesday that the possibility to reach an agreement remained until a trial opens in a Barcelona court.

Earlier this week, her lawyers said she is “absolutely certain of her innocence.” In a statement, Shakira said that the prosecutors were “insisting on claiming money earned during my international tours and the show ‘The Voice’” in the United States, which she hosted from 2013 to 2014, before she was an official resident of Spain. 

Shakira, who has sold more that 60 million records worldwide, was first accused of tax evasion by the Spanish government in 2018. At the time, prosecutors claimed that she was living most of the time in Barcelona, though her official residence was listed as the Bahamas. In July 2021, a judge decided that there was enough evidence for the case to move forward.

The singer was one of the many celebrities named in the Pandora Papers, a large leak of financial documents that sparked investigations into the use of offshore companies. Other celebrities have been targeted by the Spanish government after appearing in large financial leaks. After his name appeared in the Panama Papers in 2016, soccer player Cristiano Ronaldo was investigated for tax fraud in Spain. He eventually pleaded guilty and in 2019 he received a fine of 19 million euros and a suspended 23-month prison sentence.