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Shakira’s trial for tax fraud draws nearer. While the Colombian singer maintains that she has fulfilled all of her obligations in Spain, the Prosecutor’s Office accuses her of personal income tax evasion and wealth tax between 2012 and 2014 and requests eight years in prison and a fine of 23.8 million euros.
However, Shakira defends that the extended stays in Spain that the public ministry attributes to her since 2011 were incompatible with her artistic career, leading her to travel continuously worldwide.
El País had access to Shakira’s defense brief, which asserts that during the period in which she was being investigated, she was “a nomad, a person without roots or stability.”
She explains that until 2015, she did not live stably in Spain and could not, therefore, be treated as a tax resident. She recalls that until then, she “was everywhere, living on a plane more than any pilot.”
During the 80-minute statement that took place on June 6, 2019, in the courts of Esplugues de Llobregat, the singer admits that her visits to Barcelona began in 2011 when she began dating Gerard Piqué but assures that the relationship was just beginning and that her trips to the Catalan capital were frequent but punctual.
She describes it as “absurd” that the Treasury attributes tax residence in Spain to her in that period because she was just “getting to know” Piqué. “I remember flying from Marrakesh to Croatia. We were flying over Barcelona, and I asked the plane’s pilot if I could land briefly just to kiss Gerard [...]. I don’t know if the [Tax] Agency will have counted me as one day in Spain,” she reportedly said ironically.
As a woman, Shakira finds the “retrograde and macho” vision of the Treasury to attribute tax residence in Spain to her because she had a child with a Spaniard. She believes it is an outdated concept of family. “I scheduled the C-section because I had a contract with The Voice. I went into the delivery room wearing makeup. I gave birth and took my newborn son with me,” she assures. “I carried him everywhere, like these indigenous mothers who carry their children with them. I nursed him on the set of the show every three hours.”
“I don’t know if [U2 singer] Bono would be sitting here, charged in a criminal proceeding,” she adds.
She also mentions that she bought a house in Barcelona but has multiple residences in other countries like Uruguay, New York, Miami, Barranquilla, Nassau, and Barcelona.
Shakira goes on to explain that Piqué had a “super tense” relationship with the Barça coach, Pep Guardiola, and she even assessed options outside of Barcelona so her ex could continue his career in soccer.
Despite not wanting to come to Spain initially, she settled there in 2015, but it was a huge sacrifice for her professional success. “It is a very beautiful country, but it is not the epicenter of the music industry. For me, being in Spain is a huge sacrifice for my professional success,” she says. She emphasizes that she had no intention of committing tax fraud and accumulating more money.
In conclusion, Shakira expresses her frustration and confusion as to why anyone would be in criminal proceedings for having a boyfriend.