If yesterday we gave the good news for Shakira that the prosecutor’s office, the driving force behind the complaint for the 2018 fiscal year, backed down when considering that there was finally not enough evidence of a crime, today the joy for the artist is complete: the judge has decided to file the criminal case. In Pau Molins’ office the joy is total. The process will now take place only through administrative channels, whose defense will be led by José Luis Prada, her tax lawyer.
The singer thus sees the possibility of any criminal proceedings in Spain ended.
Joan Mateu Parra / Ap-LaPresse
Pau Molins, Shakira’s defense lawyer in this now-finished case, is very satisfied with the news: “The judicial file, which had been requested by the defense more than three months ago, shows that there was never any fraudulent behavior on the part of the singer. . Our client is totally satisfied that it is finally recognized that she did not commit any criminal fraud, but her fight against the Spanish Tax Agency does not end here.” Miriam Company, from the Pau Molins Criminal Defense law firm and co-defender of the artist, holds the same opinion: “It made no sense to continue with this criminal investigation in which the absence of intent was more than evident and which was based on complicated theories and technical concepts. difficult to understand, even for expert tax experts.”
Pau Molins, the singer’s criminal lawyer. )
PAU BARRENA / AFP
José Luis Prada, the singer’s tax lawyer, recalls that there is another case, related to the 2011 financial year and that is being processed in the National Court: “Especially inconceivable is the administrative case that the Tax Agency (AEAT) maintains open against Shakira for the fiscal year. 2011, currently pending resolution by the National Court, since it is a year in which it was impossible for the singer to be a tax resident in our country. That year Shakira was on tour around the world, giving 120 concerts in 37 countries, and she spent a maximum of 70 days in Spain. That is, not even half of the minimum required to be a tax resident in Spain.”
Molins also defended Sandro Rosell and Infanta Cristina.
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They say from those around Shakira that the 2011 case demonstrates a procedure “full of anomalies on the part of the Treasury, which forced the singer to pay up to 30 million euros that it has withheld from her all these years – from 2018 to today –, in addition of having to guarantee another 35 million euros for exorbitant sanctions, without even waiting for a court to rule on its conformity with the law.” The fine taxes Shakira’s 2011 tour income regardless of the expenses she incurred. The singer believes that the Treasury is fining her for alleged benefits that did not occur, since the deduction of expenses actually incurred has not been admitted.
