It’s been over five months since it was revealed by the Spanish government that the “Waka Waka” singer Shakira, 45, was skipping tax. Prosecutors say that Shakira didn’t pay taxes from 2012 through 2014 while she stayed in her residence in Spain.
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It was reported that Shakira is liable to serve a jail term of 8 years if found guilty of the charges labeled against her, it was also revealed that Shakira was invited by the prosecutors to come and reach a form of an agreement but she declined the invitation because she is too confident in the evidences she has and her lawyers.
Shakira — Shakira Once Revealed Why She’s Confident
In a September interview with Elle Magazine, Shakira made it known that she has her reasons for standing up to the Spanish for claiming that she was evading her taxes, “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.”
Shakira revealed that she chose to fight this tax evasion issue because it was a “matter of principle” and “Because I have to fight for what I believe; because these are false accusations.”
Shakira went on to say that she has solid evidence that points out that she never skipped taxes and that while she was dating her ex-boyfriend Gerald who happens to be a Spanish citizen, she was rarely in the country. “While Gerard and I were dating, I was on a world tour. I spent more than 240 days outside of Spain, so there was no way I qualified as a resident.”
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She also revealed that she’s not the only victim, and neither are other celebrities but regular taxpayers are also victims of this.
“It is well known that the Spanish tax authorities do this often not only with celebrities like me (or [Cristiano] Ronaldo, Neymar, [Xabi] Alonso, and many more), it also happens unjustly to the regular taxpayer. It’s just their style. But I’m confident that I have enough proof to support my case and that justice will prevail in my favor.
Shakira — Shakira Claims Prosecutors Are “Undermining Her Rights” And Want To “Damage Her Reputation”
On Friday, Nov. 25, Shakira released a statement claiming that the prosecutors are doing everything in their power to undermine her rights and damage her reputation. Shakira argued that prosecutors are also not giving her the right to prove her innocence and that it’s unacceptable to her that they’re also leaking private information.
The statement reads, “It is unacceptable that, in its accusation, the tax authorities are not respecting the legal certainty that must be guaranteed to any taxpayer. They are trying to damage a reputation earned with the work of many years… in my case they have violated my right to privacy and the presumption of innocence, basic rights of any citizen.”
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According to Marca, the privacy rights Shakira meant was how the prosecutors went to great lengths to “requests to medical centers to obtain reserved information such as appointments and exams results.”
A Barcelona-based LLYC also released a statement that was authorized by Shakira saying, “Shakira is a taxpayer who has always shown impeccable tax conduct and has never had tax problems in any other jurisdiction. The singer relied on top advisors such as PriceWaterhouseCoopers. She never exceeded the 183 days of presence in Spain required to be a tax resident.”
“With no solid evidence to support the charges against her, she has been fiercely persecuted in the criminal and media spheres using unacceptable methods to damage her reputation and force her to come to a settlement agreement.”
“Shakira has already paid more than 90 million euros for international income that has not been generated in Spain and for her international assets, without having a business centre in this country where she has never earned a significant income.”
Sakura’s representatives also added their own statement saying, “What actually occurred were sporadic presences, thus resulting in an accusation based on mere conjecture. As an example, the accusation counts all the payments made with a series of credit cards belonging to her team and friends made in Spain to add up the days of Shakira’s presence in this country.
“Without taking into account that, on many occasions, there are payments made simultaneously in different parts of the world, without the artist being physically present in those places where the payments were being made.”
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