Shakira, Shakira! The 47-year-old singer was victorious in her criminal tax evasion case in Spain. Due to a lack of evidence, Shakira's legal probe was dropped this week, RadarOnline.com has learned.
As this outlet reported, the Hips Don't Lie hitmaker was accused of failing to pay €6.6 million in owed 2018 taxes, with prosecutors claiming she used companies and tax havens to cheat the Spanish government.
On Wednesday, investigators allegedly revealed that a lack of evidence caused them to drop the case against Shakira, according to The Hollywood Reporter. The pop star agreed to pay the Spanish government the entire amount to settle her alleged debt in August; however, the court agreed that there wasn't enough evidence to “constitute a [criminal] offense against the tax authorities."
They also determined that Shakira made no “intent to defraud” the government. While acknowledging the “irregularities” in her tax return, the court tossed the case. The three-time Grammy winner is "satisfied" with the decision.
“[This] put an end to the smear campaign waged by the tax authorities…[and] proves there was never any fraudulent behavior on the part of the singer,” her defense attorney, Pau Molins, said about the news, perThe Guardian. He added Shakira is “completely satisfied that [the court] had acknowledged she had not committed any criminal fraud.”
Despite the court victory, Shakira's legal woes in Spain aren't over yet. She must still resolve the dispute over the time she spent in the country in 2011 while dating Barcelona soccer player Gerard Piqué. The Whenever, Wherever singer claimed she had only lived in Spain for 70 days that year and the threshold for owing taxes is 183 days.
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As RadarOnline.com reported, Shakira faced a possible 8-year prison sentence and a three-week trial related to her Spanish tax bills between 2012 and 2014. Prosecutors charged she defrauded Spanish revenues of €14.5 million — but Shakira claimed they couldn't be true because she didn't move to the country until 2015.
The trial never went down because Shakira settled and agreed to pay an additional €7.8 million on top of the €17.45 million she had already paid for her time in Spain. Her ex also got tied up in the celebrity crackdown on tax evasion.
Piqué was convicted of tax fraud, but the conviction was overturned by Spain’s Supreme Court.
The singer and Piqué went through a nasty public breakup inJune 2022 after 11 years together. Shakira got the hell out of Dodge. She now lives with their two sons in Miami.