According to a document from the prosecutor’s office, a Spanish prosecutor is requesting an eight-year prison sentence for Colombian diva Shakira in connection with a €14.5 million (£12.1 million) tax fraud case.
The singer earlier this week rejected a settlement offer from the prosecutor’s office to end the case. The artist has sold more than 80 million records worldwide with singles including Hips Don’t Lie.
Shakira claims she did not reside in Spain between 2012 and 2014, although she is accused of neglecting to pay taxes during that time.
According to a prosecutor’s paperwork obtained by Reuters, Shakira lived in Spain regularly between 2012 and 2014. In May 2012, she purchased a residence in Barcelona that she and her girlfriend used to raise their kid, who was born there in 2013. If she were proven guilty, the paper demanded an eight-year prison term and a fine of more than €23 million. A trial date has not been scheduled.
When questioned about the situation, Shakira’s agents cited a prior statement she had made on Wednesday in which she said she was “totally certain of her innocence” and that the situation was “a total breach of her rights.”
The first settlement offer’s specifics were kept confidential.
The 45-year-old singer said there is no outstanding debt and that she had paid the tax authorities the €17.2 million that the Spanish tax agency claimed she owed.
A month after Shakira and her husband, the FC Barcelona defender Gerard Piqué, announced their separation, the newest development in the case. Shakira, 45, and Piqué, 35, have two sons together and have been together since 2011.
