After a court near Barcelona announced on Thursday that it had decided to open an investigation into a second case of alleged tax fraud by the Colombian singer, pop diva Shakira is now in more legal trouble with Spain’s tax agency.
Shakira is already scheduled to go on trial at a later date for allegedly neglecting to pay taxes on revenue generated between 2012 and 2014 totaling 14.5 million euros (USD 13.9 million). The performer has vehemently denied any misconduct.
Currently, a Spanish judge and state prosecutors have agreed to look into two potential tax fraud charges involving Shakira from 2018. The court said that it was unaware of the amount in dispute.
The first lawsuit that will go to trial will depend on Shakira’s residence from 2012 to 2014. Although her official residency was in the Bahamas, Barcelona prosecutors claim that the Grammy winner spent more than half of that time in Spain and should have paid taxes there.
In a statement released in Spanish, Shakira’s PR company, Llorente y Cuenca, said that the singer had “always acted in accordance with the law and on the advice of her financial advisers.” The company claimed that Shakira, who currently resides in Miami, has not yet been informed of the second investigation.
“(Shakira) is now focused on her artistic career in Miami and is calm and confident that she will receive a favorable resolution of her fiscal issues,” the firm said.
Since she began dating the now-retired football player Gerard Pique, Shakira, whose full name is Shakira Isabel Mebarak Ripoll, has been associated with Spain. The two-parent family lived together in Barcelona for eleven years until calling it quits last year.
Over the past ten years, Spain has cracked down on football players who don’t pay their fair share of taxes, including Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo.
Despite being found guilty of evasion, they were both spared prison time because of a rule that permits a court to waive penalties of up to two years for first-time offenders.
