Global pop star Shakira has been summoned on Monday to a Barcelona courthouse to attend the first day of her trial for allegedly defrauding Spanish tax officials of millions of euros.
Shakira, 46, faces six counts of failing to pay the Spanish government 14.5 million euros (about USD 15.8 million) in taxes between 2012 and 2014.
The multiple Grammy and Latin Grammy winner has denied any wrongdoing and said she had paid everything she owed.
The case made headlines in 2018. It currently hinges on where Shakira lived during that period.
Prosecutors in Barcelona have alleged that the Colombian singer spent more than half of that period in Spain and therefore should have paid taxes on her worldwide income in the country even though her official residence was still in the Bahamas. Tax rates are much lower in the Bahamas than in Spain.
Prosecutors said in July that they would seek a prison sentence of eight years and two months and a fine of 24 million euros (USD 26.1 million) for the singer who has won over fans worldwide for her hits in Spanish and English in different musical genres.
Shakira’s public relations firm said that she had already paid all that she owed and an additional 3 million euros (about USD 3.2 million) in interest.
Shakira turned down a deal offered to her by prosecutors to settle her case in July 2022, saying, via her Spanish public relations firm Llorente y Cuenca, that she “believes in her innocence and chooses to leave the issue in the hands of the law.” The details of that potential deal were not made public.
A three-judge panel, led by magistrate Jose Manuel del Amo, will preside over the trial. Shakira is supposed to be inside the courtroom by 10.00 a.m.
The trial is initially scheduled to conclude on December 14.
Shakira was named in the “Paradise Papers” leaks that detailed the offshore tax arrangements of numerous high-profile individuals, including musical celebrities like Madonna and U2’s Bono.
The defence team for Shakira, the Barcelona firm Molins Defensa Penal, said in November 2022 that she had not spent more than 60 days a year inside the country during the period in question, adding she would have needed to have spent half the year inside Spain to be considered a fiscal resident.
Her defence argued that she was away from Barcelona for long stretches on a world tour in 2011 and then spent a lot of time in the United States as part of a jury for the NBC television music talent show The Voice.
