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26th September 2023
04:17pm BST
Shakira is looking at more than eight years in prison after being charged with a series of new offences.
The Colombian pop star was previously accused of defrauding the Spanish tax office out of 14.5 million euros on the income she'd earned between 2012 and 2014.
Shakira, whose full name is Shakira Isabel Mebarak Ripoll, is set to be tried in Barcelona on November 20 in relation to those accusations.
Now, however, she has been charged for a second time as prosecutors claim she failed to pay a further 6.7 million on her income in 2018.
n a statement about the charges, Barcelona prosecutors said the singer is accused of using an offshore company based in a tax haven to avoid paying the tax.
Shakira has been notified of the charges though no comment has been made yet by the star.
In July of last year, the pop star rejected a plea deal and chose to go to trial. It it believed the deal requested that she admit to avoiding the tax.
The Columbian pop singer “trusts her innocence and chooses to leave the issue in the hands of the law,” PR firm Llorente y Cuenca told Billboard.
The firm also claimed the “Hips Don’t Lie” singer has deposited the amount she is said to owe to the Spanish tax office and has no outstanding tax debts.
Shakira, who has sold more than 80 million records worldwide, claims that she did not live in Spain in the years she has been accused of failing to pay taxes.
However the prosecutor’s document asserts that the star bought a house in Barcelona in 2012, which became the family home for herself, her partner and their son Milan, who was born the following year.
People are considered Spanish residents for tax purposes if they spend more than 183 days in a given calendar year in Spain. Official residents in Spain must pay Spanish taxes on their worldwide income.
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