Shakira, the Colombian singer, attacked the Spanish Treasury for being so “using it” for exemplary purposes, up to “violating” their right to privacy while investigating her for alleged tax fraud, and claims that since 2011 she has paid more than 104 million euros in taxes worldwide.
This can be read in the defense brief that Shakira’s lawyers presented before the court of the Spanish town of Esplugues de Llobregat, which indicted her for six crimes against the Treasury accused of fraud for 14.5 million euros between 2012 and 2014, pretending not to reside in Spain.
In the letter, to which EFE has had access, the lawyers of Isabel Mebarak, real name of Shakira, now defended by the Molins law firm of Barcelona, reproach the Treasury having mounted a “media campaign” with the sole aim of “forcing” the singer so that “despite his innocence, he pleads guilty and faces the charges”.
For the defense, the Spanish Revenue Agency has acted with a “desire for recovery” and with “exemplary purposes for the rest of the Spanish taxpayers”, resorting to “measures that violate the right to privacy, such as requests to medical centers to obtain confidential information” to prove that he resided in Spain for more than 183 days a year and was obliged to pay taxes.
Where did the singer live?
The performer of Waka Waka, the song from the 2010 World Cup in South Africa, did not spend most of the year in Spain, according to her lawyers, having been a tax resident in the Bahamas from 2004 until the end of 2014, when she settled to Barcelona.
The artist adds the inscription: “has scrupulously fulfilled all tax obligations in the multiple territories with which he has had professional ties”, without a single sanction, in addition to the fact that “he carries out extensive philanthropic work” through the Pies Descalzos Foundation and America Latina in Solidarity Action.
And since 2011, he specifies, “has paid taxes all over the world for a global amount that exceeds 104 million euros (…), of which 90 million were paid into the Spanish public treasury”.
Prosecutor’s charge
The continuation He is asking for a total of eight years and two months’ imprisonment and a fine of 23.8 million eurosafter the singer refused an agreement not to be tried, claiming to trust in her innocence after paying around 14.5 million euros that the Revenue Agency had asked for and another 3 million in interest.
But since none of the requested sentences exceed two years in prison and the singer has no criminal record, so if convicted she could avoid going to jail if the court agrees.
The Prosecutor claims that the singer lived regularly in Spain between 2012 and 2014, first in Barcelona and then in Esplugues de Llobregat, a town adjacent to that city, with her then partner, the Spanish footballer Gerard Piqué, now retired.
For this reason, he claims that he had an obligation to pay taxes in Spain on all his income regardless of whether it was partly obtained in other countries and accuses him of using a network of companies based in a tax haven and in countries like Malta. or Panama to hide your income.
The singer’s lawyers defend, among other arguments, that until 2015 her presence in Spain did not exceed the deadline for obliging her to pay taxes and that her income was managed through a Maltese company which complies with all law.
Already separated from the footballer, Shakira wants to settle down with her children in Miami. And though she’s currently gearing up to release her first album in five years, from her Barcelona her home she describes the current moment as her “her darkest hour.”
Source: EFE
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Source: Clarin
