Pop star Shakira is back in the public eye again, but it’s not for one of her chart-topping singles. You may remember that she was in the news for tax evasion almost a year ago. Well, she is being brought up on charges again for a second round of tax evasion.
This comes only a year or so since she split with her long-term boyfriend Gerard Pique’ after being together for 12 years, according to Harper’s Bazaar. What came after was an intense breakup, complete with a custody battle over their kids. All of this, paired with tax evasion charges, has made for a pretty tough couple of years for Shakira.
Her tax evasion situation all started when she was accused of six counts of tax fraud in 2018, apparently for not paying a whopping, 14.5 million euros, or 13.9 million, dollars from tax years 2012 to 2014. The prosecution claimed that she was able to avoid paying taxes by claiming that she was living in the Bahamas during those tax years. The truth is, she was actually living in Spain.
It may seem like some stars are living above the law, but that is not the case for Shakira. It seems that Spanish prosecutors may be set out to make an example of the pop star. They are being very thorough in making sure they get their proper payment of taxes, no matter how famous the tax payer may be.
Shakira continues to claim that she is innocent in the matter. “I am confident that I have enough proof to support my case and that justice will prevail in my favor,” she said to Elle Spain. She even pleaded not guilty to the charges, which means she is awaiting trial. If she is found guilty, she could serve an eight-year sentence and also have to pay a pretty steep fine.
And if this was not enough, Shakira has supposedly not learned her lesson. She’s being accused of a new count of tax fraud by Spanish prosecutors, this time for failure to pay 6.7 million euros, or 7.1 million dollars, for the tax year of 2018, according to the Associated Press. The news outlet got a statement from the Spain prosecution, stating that she was able to avoid paying taxes because she “used an offshore company based in a tax haven to avoid paying the tax.”
She has not made any official statement for the new charges, but did make a statement to Elle Spain when she was hit with her first set of tax evasion charges back in 2018: “The Spanish tax authorities saw that I was dating a Spanish citizen and started to salivate. It’s clear they wanted to go after that money no matter what.”
It is still unclear where the truth really lies and if Shakira is, in fact, innocent of the charges. More about her first set of tax evasion charges will be revealed later this year, as she is set to go to trial in November.
Shakira has yet to make a statement about her second round of tax fraud charges. One thing is for certain is that Shakira is willing to fight for her innocence and freedom. She has made statements that prove she will not take a guilty plea and will continue to try proving her innocence. Time will reveal whether or not she is actually found guilty, a sentence that could actually end in a long sentence and extended jail time for the popular singer.
