Following a protracted legal battle and subsequent appeal by the Colombian singer, Spain’s High Court has acquitted Shakira of tax fraud relating to her 2011 income.
According to Reuters, the judge has overturned the $64,000,000.00 fine originally levied on the Latin superstar in 2021 by the Spanish tax agency. In addition, the court ordered the country’s Treasury to reimburse the 49-year old hitmaker with over $70,000,000.00 including interest.
In a statement by Jose Luis Prada, the musician’s attorney “This decision comes after an eight-year ordeal that has taken an unacceptable toll, reflecting a lack of rigor in administrative practice.”
About her recent victory, the international icon (born Shakira Isabel Mebarak Ripoll) said she hoped the ruling would set a precedent for “thousands of ordinary citizens who are abused and crushed every day by a system that presumes them guilty and forces them to prove their innocence while facing financial and ?emotional ruin”.
The tax authorities originally claimed that Shakira, who was in a long-term relationship with Spanish footballer Gerard Piqué at the time, was a resident in Spain for tax purposes in 2011. However, the judge ruled that tax officials failed to prove that the artist spent more than 183 days in the country that year.
The court ruled that the fines were unlawful imposed because they were “based on the assumption that the appellant’s tax residence was in Spain for the 2011 fiscal year, a fact which has not been proven”.
Not the first the Latin mega-star has dealt with tax-related matters, Shakira previously settled a separate tax fraud case over the 2012 to 2014 tax years in November 2023., and just as her trial in Barcelona was due to begin, she reached a deal with prosecutors and agreed to pay a fine of more than $8,000,000.00
Shakira was in a relationship with Piqué between 2010 and 2022, and they share sons Milan, 13, and Sasha, 11.
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Author: Saul Goode
Photo: J.ébey