A week after Shakira opened up about the tax evasion claims against her, new developments have emerged about her impending court case. Today (September 27), a judge in Spain ordered that the Colombian superstar will go to trial for the multi-million dollar claims.
According to The Associated Press, a Spanish judge approved a trial for Shakira to go forward based on the charges of tax fraud. The Esplugues de Llobregat court near Barcelona added that Shakira will be facing six counts of tax fraud. No date has yet been set for the trial. In 2018, Spanish prosecutors accused Shakira of not paying 14.5 million euros ($13.9 million) on income taxes in Spain between 2012 and 2014.
In a cover story interview with Elle last week, Shakira talked about the tax evasion claims against her for the first time. She maintained her innocence by calling the allegations against her “false accusations.” Shakira denied any wrongdoing and said that she had paid what she owed before the charges were filed.
“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,” she said.
In July, Shakira reportedly rejected a plea deal, which put the plans for a trial into motion. If she is convicted of tax fraud, Spanish prosecutors are calling for her to spend eight years in prison and pay a fine of 24 million euros (about $24.4 million). “I’m confident that I have enough proof to support my case and that justice will prevail in my favor,” Shakira said.