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Shakira, the Colombian pop sensation, made a deal with Spanish prosecutors to avoid jail time for tax fraud totaling 14.5 million euros between 2012 and 2014. Instead of a three-year conditional prison sentence, she'll pay a 7.3 million euro fine, having already returned the full amount.
Despite asserting her innocence, she chose to settle and move on. There are still pending tax probes from 2011 and 2018, with Shakira denying ties to Spain in the former and remaining silent on the latter. This situation reminds us of similar cases involving famous figures like Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi, who also evaded jail time for tax issues in Spain.
Shakira's statements in 2022
Last year in September, Shakira spoke about the taxi fraud for which she was accused. She decided to fight until the last day and confirm her innocence. However, it turned out that she was still guilty.
Shakira confirmed that she no longer has the strength to fight for justice and that she wants to continue a peaceful life, without prosecution and court. "Because I have to fight for what I believe; because these are false accusations," Shakira said in 2022.
"First of all, I didn’t spend 183 days per year at that time at all. I was busy fulfilling my professional commitments around the world. Second, I’ve paid everything they claimed I owed, even before they filed a lawsuit.
So as of today, I owe zero to them. And finally, I was advised by one of the four biggest tax specialist firms in the world, PricewaterhouseCoopers, so I was confident that I was doing things correctly and transparently from day one.
However, even without evidence to support these fictional claims, as they usually do, they’ve resorted to a salacious press campaign to try to sway people, and apply pressure in the media along with the threat of reputational damage in order to coerce settlement agreements.
But I’m confident that I have enough proof to support my case and that justice will prevail in my favor."