Spain- A tax fraud case against Shakira was dismissed by Spanish prosecutors on Wednesday, just months after the singer of “Hips Don’t Lie” was first charged with unpaid taxes totaling $7 million. The prosecutor’s office issued a statement citing “insufficient evidence” and stating that “the Barcelona provincial prosecutor’s office for financial crimes has requested that the proceedings against Shakira be closed… for the 2018 tax year.”

Charges against the popular Columbian musician date back to July. According to the prosecution, he defrauded the tax office of 6.6 million euros ($7.09 million) in 2018, plus interest and adjustments, by means of a network of companies, some of which were headquartered in tax havens. The so-called Queen of Latin Pop settled the debt a month later, her agent told AFP, paying 6.6 million euros. On November 20, during the first day of her trial, Shakira and the prosecution came to a last-minute agreement regarding a previous tax fraud case involving money she received between 2012 and 2014.

The singer was charged by the prosecution with defrauding the tax authorities of 14.5 million euros in a case that revolved around her length of stay in Spain, and they were seeking a jail sentence of more than eight years for her. Shakira refuted the accusations, claiming that she only made a permanent move to Spain in 2015.

Sing about your tax problems

Prosecutors stated at the time that she had already paid 17.45 million euros to settle her outstanding tax debt by the time the case went to trial. The trial, which was scheduled to begin on the day it opened and feature testimony from about 120 witnesses, was abruptly ended when she consented to pay a settlement fee of almost 7.8 million euros. She said at the time that she had made the decision “with the best interest of my kids at heart” in order to concentrate on her career and “move past the stress and emotional toll of the last several years.”

After divorcing Barcelona star defender Gerard Pique, Shakira, now 47, resides in Miami with her two sons. In 2016, he was found guilty of tax fraud and was mandated to pay 2.1 million euros in fines and arrears. In 2021, his conviction was overturned by Spain’s Supreme Court. The song “Debt to the Tax Office,” which was produced by Shakira’s renowned Argentine producer Bizarrap, won the Latin Grammy for song of the year last year. In it, Pique, who has since retired from football, is mocked.

I’m not a UN diplomat, but people on my team tried to get me to change the lyrics. Shakira declared to the Spanish celebrity magazine ¡Hola! that she is both an artist and a woman above all. Football players like Cristiano Ronaldo of Portugal and Lionel Messi of Argentina have been the target of Spain’s recent crackdown on unpaid taxes. After being found guilty of evasion, both players were given prison terms that were reduced for first-time offenders.- AFP