Shakira Cleared in Multi-Million Dollar Spanish Tax Fraud Case

After an eight-year legal battle, Spain's High Court has acquitted Colombian singer Shakira of tax fraud.

Backstory:

• In 2018 Shakira was accused of tax evasion by the Spanish government.

• Authorities were seeking an eight-year prison term.

The judgment:

• Tax authorities were unable to prove that Shakira had spent 183 days in Spain in the 2011 tax year, the threshold that would make her a resident and liable for personal income tax.

• The court ruled she had spent 163 days in the country in that financial year.

• Spain’s tax agency has said it will appeal the decision and won’t make any payments until the final ruling.

The damages:

• The court has ordered the country’s treasury to repay the singer more than $64 million in improperly collected taxes and interest.

What they said:

• Shakira: “After more than eight years of enduring brutal public targeting, orchestrated campaigns to destroy my reputation, and sleepless nights that ultimately impacted my health and my family’s well-being, the National High Court has finally set the record straight. There was never any fraud, and the Administration itself could never prove otherwise, simply because it wasn’t true.”

• She added: “Yet, for nearly a decade, I was treated as guilty. Every step of the process was leaked, distorted, and amplified, using my name and public image to send a threatening message to the rest of the taxpayers.”

• She concluded: “Today, that narrative crumbles, and it does so with the full force of a court ruling. My greatest wish is that this ruling sets a precedent for the Treasury and serves the thousands of ordinary citizens who are abused and crushed every day by a system that presumes their guilt and forces them to prove their innocence at the cost of economic and emotional ruin. This victory is dedicated to them.”