Good news for Shakira (47 years). As confirmed THE SPANISHa judge has archived the criminal investigation opened against her for alleged tax fraud in the year 2018. It was this past Wednesday, May 8, when The Prosecutor’s Office requested the closure of this casethe second of the two that were opened for this crime in our country.
According to what legal sources inform Jaleos, in addition to the Public Ministry, the private accusations exercised by the Tax Agency and the Generalitat of Catalonia did not oppose the request of the singer’s defense to archive the case in which she had been investigated. for alleged fraud 6.6 million euros to the Treasury in 2018.
In the archival judicial order, to which this newspaper has had access, the head of the Court of Instruction number 2 of Esplugues concludes that there is “no indication” that, “consciously and voluntarily“, Shakira omitted information and documentation with “tax significance” in her personal income tax and wealth tax returns in 2018 to the tax advisor in charge of her self-assessments.
[Buenas noticias para Shakira: la Fiscalía pide archivar la segunda causa contra ella por fraude fiscal de 6,6 millones]
Shakira, upon arrival at the trial held in Barcelona on November 20, 2023.
After learning of the dismissal of the case, the singer’s legal team, on her behalf, stated the following: “The judicial filewhich had been requested by the defense more than three months ago, proves 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.” This is how Pau Molins, Shakira’s defense lawyer, expressed it.
For its part, Shakira’s co-defense lawyerMiriam Company, added: “It made no sense to continue with this criminal investigation in which the absence of fraud was more than evident and which was based on complicated theories and technical concepts that were difficult to understand, even for expert prosecutors.”
Finally, Shakira’s prosecutor, Jose Luis Pradahas found it appropriate to add the following: “Especially inconceivable is the administrative case that the Tax Agency keeps open against Shakira for the financial year 2011, currently pending resolution by the National Court, since This 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.”
End of a stage
Shakira She can now breathe easy, since she has no more cases open with the Spanish Justice Department. She was the Economic Crimes Prosecutor’s Office the one who filed this second complaint for tax fraud against the singer, but now, after months of investigation, it has concluded that there is not sufficient evidence that she committed the two crimes against the public treasury attributed to her. Today its file has been revealed.
Shakira in a recent image.
Gtres
The singer deposited the 6.6 million in court on August 31 that the Public Ministry and the Tax Agency considered evaded and last February she declared herself under investigation before the judge, in a videoconference from Miami (USA) in which she denied having defrauded the Treasury.
This case derives from the second complaint filed by the Barcelona Prosecutor’s Office against Shakira, in which she was accused of using a corporate network to avoid paying taxes in the 2018 personal income tax and wealth tax returns, when the artist He was still waiting to sit on the bench following his first open case for tax fraud.
In that trial, the result of the first of the two complaints and held last November, The Colombian singer accepted the payment of a fine of 7.8 million eurosafter an agreement with the Prosecutor’s Office and the Tax Agency that prevented him from going to prison, after assuming that he defrauded 14.5 million euros between 2012 and 2014.
In the complaint that led to the filed case, the Prosecutor’s Office maintained that the singer defrauded the Tax Agency of 5.3 million personal income tax, corresponding to the income she received from her 2018 tour. The Golden and for the transfer of its intellectual rights, and another 773,600 euros in wealth tax for the 12 million it owns in real estate and financial assets.
Justice files the second criminal investigation against Shakira for fraud
To defraud the treasury, according to the Prosecutor’s complaint, He used a corporate framework and presented “untrue statements” of the Personal Income Tax (IRPF), in which he omitted to declare income and deducted expenses that were not applicable, thereby managing to reduce the fee payable to the Treasury.
According to that complaint, Shakira collected part of the income she received from the transfer of her musical rights through a company incorporated in Luxembourg with which he signed several “simulated contracts”, so that he benefited from a “very reduced” taxation that in the 2018 financial year stood at 1.39 percent.
That Luxembourg firm, in the opinion of the Prosecutor’s Office, “was merely a company incorporated for tax purposes only” that did not carry out any activity, beyond a “merely formal and administrative intervention.”
He also referred to the Prosecutor’s complaint that Shakira used another instrumental company, incorporated in Spain in 2017to “account for the income and expenses corresponding” to your tour The Golden —which included 53 concerts in 22 countries—, despite the fact that the firm also lacked real activity. Today, after more than a decade of struggle, this judicial ordeal ends for her.
