The Spanish Prosecutor’s Office accuses Shakira of defrauding 6 million in her new case for tax crime

The Prosecutor’s Office accuses the Colombian singer Shakira of having defrauded the Treasury of more than 6 million euros in the 2018 personal income tax and wealth tax returns, using a corporate network based in tax havens.

This is what the public ministry maintains in the complaint it filed 3 months ago against the Colombian artist – already notified -, which has given rise to a court in Esplugues de Llobregat (Barcelona) to open a second case against her, for two crimes against the Public Treasury.

Shakira will be tried starting next November 20 in the Barcelona Court for defrauding 14.5 million euros between 2012 and 2014, in another case that was also initiated by a complaint that the Barcelona Economic Crimes Prosecutor’s Office filed in 2018.

On this occasion, the public ministry proposes in its complaint that the Colombian artist can testify as being investigated by videoconference from her home in Miami (United States), where she moved from Barcelona after her breakup with soccer player Gerard Piqué.

Colombian singer Shakira

Specifically, the complaint maintains that the singer defrauded the Tax Agency of 5.3 million personal income tax, corresponding to the income she received from her 2018 “El Dorado” tour and the transfer of her intellectual rights, and another 773,600 euros in the wealth tax for the 12 million it owns in real estate and financial assets.

To defraud the treasury, the Prosecutor’s Office maintains, the defendant used a corporate framework and presented “untrue declarations” of the personal income tax (IRPF), in which she omitted to declare income and deducted expenses that were not applicable, with which he managed to reduce the fee payable to the Treasury.
A company incorporated in Luxembourg

According to the complaint, Shakira collected part of the income she received from the transfer of her musical rights through a company incorporated in Luxembourg with which she signed several “simulated contracts”, so that she benefited from a “very reduced” taxation. which in fiscal year 2018 stood at 1.39%.

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.”

The complaint also states that Shakira used another instrumental company, established in Spain in 2017, to “account for the income and expenses corresponding” to her “El Dorado” tour – which included 53 concerts in 22 countries -, despite the fact that the signature lacked also of real activity.

The complaint from the Economic Crimes Prosecutor’s Office mentions another 17 “instrumental” companies based in Holland, Malta, British Virgin Islands, Panama, Bahamas, Miami, New York or Liechtenstein that the person under investigation allegedly used to manage income from her musical career. , as well as the maintenance of your real estate and financial assets.

In addition, the public ministry considers that Shakira deducted an extra seven million in the expenses of her companies, in some cases because they were counted in duplicate and in others because they were payments of an “eminently personal” nature.

Among those personal expenses that the Prosecutor’s Office considers non-deductible are private trips by private jet – 150,483 euros, as well as plane tickets for his two children and their educator.
Shakira pending trial for another complaint

Shakira is awaiting trial for another complaint for tax fraud that the public ministry filed against her, precisely in 2018, a case that continued despite the fact that the artist returned 17.2 million euros to the Tax Agency – the sum allegedly defrauded plus the interest -, once she knew that she was being investigated.

In this process, the Prosecutor’s Office requests a sentence of eight years and two months in prison and a fine of 23.8 million for the Colombian singer, who in July of last year refused to reach an agreement with the Prosecutor’s Office and decided to risk it in the trial. although he still has time to agree with the accusations – which include the Treasury and the Catalan Tax Agency – until the time of sitting on the bench.

The Prosecutor’s Office has forwarded the complaint to the media, once notification of the same to the singer has been confirmed, as clarified by the public ministry.

However, Shakira’s communications office has told EFE that it has not received “any notification in Miami, the singer’s official domicile, about the complaint,” and has highlighted that her legal team is “focused on preparing the trial.” which will begin next November 20. With EFE

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