The Colombian singer Shakira has rejected the agreement offered by the Prosecutor’s Office in Spain to avoid being judged for four crimes against the Public Treasury and has decided to go to trial for alleged tax fraud, given that he “fully” trusts his innocence.
As reported on Wednesday by the artist’s communication agency, her legal team held talks with the Barcelona Prosecutor’s Office (northeast) to reach an agreement that would reduce the sentence that could correspond to him, but decided to reject the last offer of the public ministry.
In a statement, Shakira assures that she has chosen to “leave the issue in the hands of the law, with the peace of mind and the confidence that justice will prove you right”.
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Despite the fact that the prosecution and defense did not reach a consent agreement, which would not have prevented that Shakira sat on the bench, the singer could still agree with the Prosecutor’s Office until the day of the trial.
His will has always been to move forward in the criminal process, without settling for a reduced sentence that could correspond to it, highlights the statement.
For the singer, this case “constitutes a total abuse” of her rights, since she has always shown “impeccable conduct, as a person and taxpayer, and a full willingness to resolve any difference from the outset, even before the criminal process”.
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“Still disagreeing” with the criteria of her legal team on the alleged tax fraud, the artist returned 17.2 million euros to the Spanish Treasury, the sum allegedly defrauded plus interest, and “for many years there has been no pending debt” , remember.
Shakira regrets that “never” in any other country has she encountered a “persecution with such unreasonableness and so fierce”, “nor such an obvious use of media and reputational pressure as a collection mechanism”.
The Spanish Treasury claimed about 14.5 million euros when seeing indications that in 2012 the singer already resided in Spain and was obliged since then to pay taxes in this country, but allegedly hid income through a network based in tax havens.
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The artist has already paid those 14.5 million euros and another three in interest, which does not prevent him from going to trial for alleged tax fraud between 2012 and 2014.
The case dates back to 2017, when the so-called “paradise papers”, an investigation carried out by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ), revealed that she lived in Barcelona with her husband, the FC Barcelona footballer, Gerard Piqué, and their two children, but was supposedly domiciled in the tax haven of the Bahamas.
Last month the artist announced her separation from the player, her partner for the last twelve years.
The investigation also ensured that the singer managed in two tax-advantaged countries, Malta and Luxembourg, some 31.6 million euros for copyright of their songs.
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The singer’s lawyers clarified that she had lived in the Bahamas since 2004, but in the following years she had to travel “without stopping”, which until 2015 her presence in Spain It did not exceed the period that requires it to pay taxes and that the management of those millions had been carried out since 2007 through a Maltese company that “complies with all legal requirements”.
